Typhoon Kalmaegi brings rain and destruction to Vietnam as death toll nears 200 in Philippines

HANOI: At least five people died in Vietnam after Typhoon Kalmaegi pummelled coastal regions with destructive winds and heavy rain, officials said on Friday, following the storm’s deadly passage through the Philippines where it killed at least 188 people.

The storm made landfall in central Vietnam late on Thursday, uprooting trees, damaging homes, and triggering power outages, before weakening as it moved inland.

Authorities warned of continuing heavy rainfall of up to 200 millimetres (8 inches) in central provinces from Thanh Hoa to Quang Tri, and said rising river levels from Hue to Dak Lak could trigger flooding and landslides.

In the Philippines, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is expected to visit affected areas on Friday to assess the damage and oversee recovery efforts, with officials saying 135 people remained missing and another 96 had been injured.

In Vietnam, the disaster management agency said seven people were reported injured, and around 2,800 homes were damaged.

About 1.3 million people were without electricity, it said.

The state-run Vietnam News Agency said the railway in Quang Ngai had been damaged. Photos and videos on social media showed ripped-off roofs, flooded homes, and streets littered with fallen trees and debris.

The government said it had mobilized more than 268,000 soldiers for search-and-rescue operations and warned of flooding, which could affect agriculture in the Central Highlands, Vietnam’s main coffee-growing region.

Kalmaegi is the 13th typhoon to form in the South China Sea this year.

Vietnam and the Philippines are highly vulnerable to tropical storms and typhoons due to their locations along the Pacific typhoon belt, regularly experiencing damage and casualties during peak storm seasons.

The Philippines’ civil aviation regulator has placed all area centres and airport operations under heightened alert in preparation for another typhoon, Fung-wong, which is forecast to intensify into a super typhoon before making landfall in the northern Philippines on Sunday evening or early Monday morning.