Typhoon Doksuri, known in the Philippines as Super Typhoon Egay, was a powerful, deadly and destructive tropical cyclone, which became the costliest typhoon to hit China on record, the strongest typhoon to impact Fujian since Typhoon Meranti in 2016, and the most powerful typhoon to strike the province since records began in 1950. Doksuri caused extensive damage in the Philippines, Taiwan, China and Vietnam, in late July 2023. The name "Doksuri" means eagle in Korean. The fifth named storm and third typhoon of the 2023 Pacific typhoon season, Doksuri started as a low-pressure area in the Philippines, far off the coast of Mindanao. Tracking northwestward, it rapidly intensified into a typhoon over the Philippines prior to making landfall over the Babuyan Islands. Together with the southwest monsoon, Doksuri showered most of the northern and central Luzon island with heavy rains, triggering floods in various regions of the country. Doksuri steadily weakened after interacting with land, but by late July 27, Doksuri underwent another round of rapid intensification in the South China Sea. Doksuri moved towards Fujian, China, before rapidly weakening overland, and Doksuri dissipated early on the next day.
Doksuri left behind a trail of severe destruction in its wake. The typhoon killed 137 and left 285 people injured, 27 of those deaths were on board the MB Aya Express who were killed when the pump boat capsized. Floods were reported in 9 out of the Philippines' 17 regions, affecting over 2 million people and requiring over 300,000 to evacuate. The typhoon's close proximity and large influence to Taiwan caused around 150,000 people to lose power. The storm affected over 724,600 people and of farmland in China's southeastern province of Fujian; 44 houses were damaged, with 178 houses completely destroyed.
In Fujian, the rainfall set records for 24-hour totals, including an accumulation of more than . Torrential rains impacted many areas, with accumulations in Xiamen, Quanzhou and Putian reaching . The remnants of the storm produced heavy rainfall in Beijing. The remnants dropped up to of rainfall in Wangjiayuan Reservoir in Changping District with Doksuri setting maximum rainfall records since recordkeeping began during the Qing dynasty in 1883. Overall, Doksuri caused US$15.6 billion worth of damages across the four countries affected by the typhoon.
Meteorological history
On July 19, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) began tracking a low pressure area in the Philippine Sea, east of Mindanao. The agency noted its formation into a tropical depression by July 20; the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) released a Tropical Cyclone Formation Alert later that day. The system maintained its intensity over the following day as it tracked further northwestward. On July 21, the system intensified into a tropical storm and was immediately named Doksuri; the Philippine meteorological agency PAGASA also noted the storm's formation and locally named it Egay. It was then designated by JTWC as the newly formed tropical depression 05W. Driven by a deep-layer subtropical ridge to its north, the storm slightly intensified as it tracked northwestward across the following day.
At 09:00 UTC on July 23, Doksuri began to rapidly intensify as it reached typhoon status over the Philippine Sea. Its rapid intensification is attributed to a lack of vertical wind shear affecting the cyclone whilst moving over very warm () ocean waters. Satellite imagery showed the development of an eye-like feature, which was fully defined by 03:00 UTC on July 24. Over 24 hours, its maximum sustained wind speeds grew by and eventually reached a peak of . At 21:00 UTC, the JTWC upgraded the system into a 'super typhoon'—its highest storm category—after Doksuri attained 1-minute sustained winds of .