Typhoon Doksuri landed in southern China on Friday, bringing down power lines, sparking fires and forcing the closure of schools and businesses.
The storm unleashed heavy rain and violent gusts of wind that also uprooted trees, ripped off part of a stadium roof and saw workers evacuated from offshore oil and gas fields.
The typhoon is the most powerful to make landfall in China this year and second-strongest to hit southeastern Fujian province since Typhoon Meranti in 2016.
Doksuri has affected more than 724,600 people, with 124,400 people evacuated and resettled, and caused direct economic losses of 52.27 million yuan ($7.30 million), media reported.
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In the Fujian port city of Quanzhou, 39 people were reported to have suffered minor injuries, and more than 500,000 homes lost power.
The retractable roof of a stadium in downtown Quanzhou was ripped apart as wind lashed its huge dome, sending glass and metal flying.
Doksuri’s wind speed was downgraded to severe tropical storm but torrential rain was still expected to hit inland provinces such as Anhui, which grows corn, rice, soybean and cotton. Its massive rain bands are expected to arc as far north as Beijing on Sunday or Monday.
There were no immediate reports of fatalities. In 2016, at least 11 people were killed when Meranti made landfall near the port city of Xiamen, south of Quanzhou.
Social media video showed power lines sparking and bursting into flames as winds thrashed Jinjiang, a city of 2 million, while in Quanzhou trees were uprooted and left in the middle of roads.
Residents told Reuters power and water were cut in some areas of Jinjiang and Quanzhou.
Landslides, Floods Warnings
Typhoon Doksuri has already left a wake of death and destruction as it moved from the Philippines across southern Taiwan.
In the Philippines, a ferry sank near Manila, killing at least 26 after frightened passengers rushed to one side of the boat and caused it to overturn. As many as 36 people were killed in the Philippines.
In southern Taiwan, the storm toppled trees and cut power to hundreds of thousands of homes. Authorities shut businesses for a second day on Friday and warned of extreme winds, landslides and floods.
The storm had cut power to more than 278,000 homes across Taiwan and downed hundreds of trees in Kaohsiung. Rainfall of more than 1 metre was recorded in the mountainous eastern and southern parts of the island.
More than 200 domestic and international flights were suspended or delayed on Friday and railway services between southern and eastern Taiwan were halted.
- Reuters with additional editing by Sean O’Meara
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