MANILA: Typhoon Doksuri battered the northern Philippines on Wednesday with torrential rains and “violent, life-threatening” winds, leaving at least one person dead and over 11,000 displaced, the national disaster agency said, reported German news agency (dpa).
Doksuri made landfall over Fuga Island off the northern province of Cagayan before dawn, packing maximum sustained winds of 175 kph and gusts of up to 240 kph, the weather bureau said.
It was moving west-southwestward at 15 kph, and was sweeping through the northernmost part of the Philippines.
Doksuri’s winds knocked out power, while trees were uprooted and houses damaged, said Edgardo Posadas, a spokesman for the national disaster agency.
Posadas said the agency received a report of one person who drowned in the province of Rizal, east of Manila, due to flash floods. Two people were injured, he added.
Dozens of domestic flights have been cancelled, while sea travel has been suspended in affected regions, leaving 4,600 people stranded in ports, according to the coast guard.
“Violent, life-threatening conditions are expected to continue over (the northern Philippines) in the next six hours,” the weather bureau said.
Doksuri was expected to slightly weaken as it exits the Philippines on Thursday. It was forecast to cross the Taiwan Strait and make landfall in the vicinity of Fujian, China on Friday.
The Philippine archipelago is hit by an average of 20 tropical cyclones every year.
The strongest typhoon to ever hit the Philippines was Super Typhoon Haiyan, which killed 6,300 people and displaced more than 4 million in November 2013. — BERNAMA-XINHUA
