Asia’s most powerful storm this year made landfall in northern Vietnam on Saturday, the meteorological agency said, killing at least two people after tearing through China’s island of Hainan, where it reportedly killed another two and injured dozens more.
Super Typhoon Yagi hit island districts of north Vietnam around 1300 local time (0600 GMT), generating winds of up to 160 kph (99 mph) near its centre, having lost power from its peak of 234 kph (145 mph) in Hainan a day earlier.
A body was recovered near the coastal city of Halong, while a dozen people were missing at sea, state media reported on Saturday. Earlier in the day, a 53-year-old motorcyclist was killed after a tree fell on him in the northern Hai Duong province, according to the state media.
Typhoon Yagi had already claimed the lives of at least 16 people in the Philippines, the first country it hit, having formed east of the archipelago earlier in the week.
Vietnam’s coastal city of Haiphong, an industrial hub with a population of 2 million people that hosts factories from foreign multinationals and local carmaker VinFast , was among the hardest hit by winds with speeds of up to 90 kph.
As the typhoon approached, the city experienced power outages on Saturday, authorities said. The strong winds smashed windows in buildings and waves were as high as three meters when they hit the coast, according to a Reuters witness. Trees fell and metal roofing sheets flew away from buildings and parking lots, pictures and footages on local media showed.
Earlier in Hainan, which has a population of more than 10 million, the storm felled trees, flooded roads and cut power to more than 800,000 homes.
AIRPORTS CLOSED
Vietnam evacuated nearly 50,000 people from coastal towns and deployed 450,000 military personnel, the government said.
It also suspended operations for several hours at four airports on Saturday, including Hanoi’s Noi Bai, the busiest in the north, cancelling more than 300 flights.
High schools were also closed in 12 northern provinces, including in the capital Hanoi, which has a population of 8.5 million.
Authorities in the capital suspended public transport on buses and its two elevated metro lines on Saturday afternoon, state media reported. The meteorological agency has warned of risks of heavy flooding in the city centre.
Hanoi resident Nguyen Manh Quan, 40, said: “The wind is strong enough to blow a person over.”
Dang Van Phuong, also 40, said: “I’ve never seen a storm like this, you can’t drive in these winds.”
Typhoons are becoming stronger, fuelled by warmer oceans, amid climate change, scientists say.
Last week, Typhoon Shanshan slammed into southwestern Japan, the strongest storm to hit the country in decades.
Typhoon Yagi is named after the Japanese word for goat and the constellation of Capricornus.
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