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Typhoon Kajiki has brought torrential rains and strong winds to Vietnam’s north central coast, as tens of thousands of residents were evacuated from its path.
The typhoon — the fifth to affect Vietnam this year — battered the Gulf of Tonkin with waves of up to 9.5 metres before hitting shore overnight (Monday afternoon local time).
It made landfall packing wind speeds between 118 and 133km/h, Vietnam’s National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting said.
“The risk for flash floods overnight is very high, so we have to stay on high alert,” director Mai Van Khiem told AFP.
Evacuations, airports shut and military mobilised
About 44,000 residents were relocated from the area while 16,000 troops were deployed, and all fishing vessels in the anticipated path of the typhoon were recalled to the harbor.
Two domestic airports were shut and 35 flights cancelled before it landed between Ha Tinh and Nghe An provinces, tearing the roofs off more than 600 homes, according to authorities.
One fatality was reported by the agriculture ministry, with at least eight more people wounded.
‘Never this big’
“I have never experienced such strong winds in all my life,” Nguyen Thi Phuong, 38, told AFP in Vinh city, the provincial capital of Nghe An, which was stricken by widespread blackouts on Monday night.
“Normally we get storms and flooding, but never this big,” said 52-year-old evacuee Nguyen Thi Nhan.
Waves surged in Vietnam’s Ha Tinh province as Typhoon Kajiki approached. Source: AAP / Nguyen Dong/AP
The typhoon’s power is due to dramatically dissipate after it makes landfall.
The Joint Typhoon Warning Center said conditions suggested “an approaching weakening trend as the system approaches the continental shelf of the Gulf of Tonkin where there is less ocean heat content”.
