South China's Hainan Province has activated an emergency response for approaching Typhoon Doksuri, which is set to skirt pass the province or land on coastal areas between Thursday night and Friday Morning.
Shipping services on the Qiongzhou Strait connecting China's Hainan and Guangdong provinces were suspended Thursday morning. High-speed trains in Hainan will be suspended starting Thursday noon.
As of 8 p.m. Wednesday, more than 65,000 people at sea moved on shore, with over 24,000 fishing boats moored.
According to the Hainan weather bureau, as of 8 a.m. Thursday, the eye of Doksuri, the 19th typhoon in the region this year, was above the South China Sea, about 400 km southeast of Hainan's Sanya city, packing winds up to 25 meters per second.
The bureau forecast that Doksuri would move northwest at a speed of 15 to 20 km per hour, and grow stronger.
The province continued issuing an alert for the Typhoon Doksuri Thursday morning. Strong winds and heavy rain are expected in Hainan from Thursday.
More than 200,000 people were evacuated from Fujian and Zhejiang provinces as of Wednesday, as Talim, the region's 18th typhoon this year, moved rapidly towards China's southeast coast.
