Typhoon Doksuri shuts schools and businesses as China braces for landfall

China on Thursday braced for the imminent landfall of Typhoon Doksuri, shutting schools and businesses in some coastal cities, while its national observatory renewed its most severe weather alert.

The approaching typhoon is expected to make landfall on China's southeast coast in the early hours of Friday, state radio reported, citing Fujian provincial weather authorities.

In its final approach to southeastern China, Doksuri regained super typhoon strength after pummelling China's Taiwan and the northern Philippines with rain and strong winds that led to the capsize of a ferry in which at least 25 people died.

The ferry sank near the Philippine capital of Manila after passengers alarmed by strong winds rushed to one side of the boat, overturning it. As many as 36 people have been killed this week during Doksuri's transit off the northern Philippines.

Three coastal cities in Fujian province shut schools, businesses and factories on Thursday, state media reported, while flood control authorities in one of them, Xiamen, warned of a "serious impact".

From 3 pm Thursday until the end of the emergency response, all industries in Xiamen, except for essential services such as water and electricity, will be required to suspend operations.

Public transportation, including subway and buses, will cease operations from 8 pm on Thursday, followed by the suspension of taxis and ride-hailing services at 10 pm

Residents have been advised to stay indoors to ensure their safety during the approaching typhoon.

In Fujian's Zhangzhou City, the local maritime bureau has suspended the operation of 16 passenger ferries.

More than 370 ships within the bureau's jurisdiction have returned to ports, 17 water-related projects under construction have been temporarily halted, and a total of 246 personnel who were on board the vessels have gone ashore.

However, the China Meterological Administration forecast that it would be weaker than 2016's Typhoon Meranti, the strongest to hit China's eastern coast since 1949 and which killed at least 11 people.

Passenger ships and fishing boats have also been grounded in parts of coastal Zhejiang province immediately north of Fujian.

Xinhua

Meanwhile, China's Taiwan on Thursday shut businesses and schools, and airlines cancelled hundreds of flights, amid warnings of landslides and floods as Typhoon Doksuri churned past the island en route to China's mainland.

Taiwan's weather bureau issued wind and rain warnings on Thursday for the southern and eastern parts of the island, including the major port city of Kaohsiung where businesses and schools were closed and landslide warnings issued.

All domestic flights and ferry lines were suspended in Taiwan while more than 100 international flights were cancelled or delayed. Railway services between southern and eastern Taiwan were shut.

More than 5,700 people were evacuated as a precaution, mostly in the mountainous southern and eastern Taiwan, where more than 0.7 metres of rainfall was recorded in some areas and up to 1 metre of rain was forecast.

The storm had cut power from more than 49,000 households across Taiwan but the majority of them had since been restored.

Some railway services in the Yangtze River Delta region were suspended on Thursday, including some high-speed trains between Shanghai and Shenzhen, Shanghai and Xiamen, Shanghai and Longyan, and Shanghai and Huai'an, according to the China Railway Shanghai Group.

Travelers are recommended to pay close attention to travel information and weather changes.