Typhoon Kajiki hits coast of Vietnam, felling trees and flooding homes

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Typhoon Kajiki brought torrential rains to Vietnam’s north central coast on Monday, felling trees and flooding homes, despite wind speeds tapering off from earlier in the day.

As of 5 a.m. ET, Kajiki was on the coast of Nghe An and Ha Tinh provinces, with wind speed easing to 118-133 kilometres per hour from as strong as 166 kilometres per hour, according to the country’s weather agency.

“It’s terrifying,” said Dang Xuan Phuong, a 48-year-old resident of Cua Lo, a tourism town in Nghe An province directly hit by the storm.

“When I look down from the higher floors I could see waves as tall as two metres, and the water has flooded the roads around us,” Phuong told Reuters.

State media reports said power in several areas in Ha Tinh province had been cut off, roofs were blown out and floating fishing farms were washed away.

Vietnam had earlier shut airports, closed schools and begun mass evacuations as it prepared for the most powerful storm so far this year.

The government warned earlier of “an extremely dangerous fast-moving storm,” adding that Kajiki would bring heavy rains, flooding and landslides.

With a long coastline facing the South China Sea, Vietnam is prone to storms that are often deadly and trigger dangerous flooding and mudslides.

The weather agency said rainfall could reach 500 millimetres from Monday afternoon until the end of Tuesday in several parts of northern Vietnam.

The Vietnamese government said earlier on Monday about 30,000 people had been evacuated from coastal areas. More than 16,500 soldiers and 107,000 paramilitary personnel had been mobilized to help with the evacuation and stand by for search and rescue.

Two airports in Thanh Hoa and Quang Binh provinces were closed, according to the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam. Vietnam Airlines and Vietjet cancelled dozens of flights to and from the area on Sunday and Monday.

Kajiki skirted the southern coast of China’s Hainan Island on Sunday as it moved toward Vietnam, forcing Sanya City on the island to close businesses and public transport on Sunday.

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China’s southernmost province downgraded its typhoon and emergency response alerts on Monday morning but warned of heavy rain and isolated storms in cities in the southern part of Hainan.

Local media reported that many residents in Sanya, a popular holiday resort, had taken shelter from the storm in underground garages on Sunday evening. Some large trees were brought down leaving roads strewn with broken branches by Monday morning, the reports said.

On Monday, China’s Transport Ministry urged local authorities in various provinces and regions to remain vigilant to risks and secondary disasters after the national forecaster’s warnings of typhoon impacts on a large part of the country until early Tuesday.

The areas include the southwest part of China including Sichuan, Yunnan and Guangxi, and the comprehensive warning also extended to as far as the country’s northeastern provinces such as Heilongjiang and Jilin, which are close to the Koreas.

Chinese embassy in Hanoi on Monday reminded Chinese citizens in Vietnam to enhance their awareness of prevention and be well-prepared for strong winds and heavy rainfall.

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