Vietnam’s HANOIAccording to Vietnamese authorities, Typhoon Yagi made landfall in the country’s north on Saturday afternoon, killing at least four people and injuring 78 more.
Yagi made its way to Vietnam, where it was dubbed “one of the most powerful typhoons in the region over the past decade” by meteorological officials. It had previously caused at least three fatalities and about a hundred injuries in the Chinese province of Hainan.
With winds of high to 92 miles per hour, the typhoon made landfall in the coastal provinces of Quang Ninh and Haiphong, Vietnam, according to official media. Strong winds in Hanoi, the country’s capital, toppled a tree before it landed, killing a woman, local media reported on Saturday.
Ha Long Bay, a UNESCO World Heritage site renowned for its several towering limestone islands, is located in Quang Ninh. Local media reported that hundreds of cruises were cancelled at the well-known location prior to the typhoon’s landfall. Large factories, such as those that produce electric vehicles (EVs) VinFast and supply Apple, Pegatron, are located in Haiphong, an industrial hub.
Earlier, the authorities issued several alerts, and those vulnerable to floods or landslides were evacuated. Four airports were shuttered, including in Hanoi, and Haiphong.
Authorities pruned trees in Hanoi to make them less susceptible to falling, but wind and rain knocked over several along with billboards in northern cities. Local media reported that many moored boats were swept out to sea.
“I am going to stay inside and try and stay safe with my family,” said Bao Ngoc Cao, 24, a businesswoman from Hanoi. She added that the last time a typhoon this strong hit Vietnam was in 2013 and that storms usually weaken before reaching the capital. “But we still need to be prepared.”
On Friday afternoon, Yagi struck the Chinese city of Wenchang in Hainan province with wind speeds of up to about 152 mph near its center. Authorities said the typhoon left at least three people dead and nearly a hundred others injured in the province. It has affected over 1.2 million people as of noon Saturday, according to the Chinese regime’s mouthpiece Global Times newspaper.
The actual number of casualties from such events in China may be much higher. The actual number of casualties is difficult to verify, as the Chinese regime routinely suppresses or alters information.
Some 420,000 Hainan residents were relocated before the typhoon’s landfall. Another half a million people in Guangdong province were evacuated before Yagi made a second landfall in the province’s Xuwen County on Friday night.
Meanwhile, the meteorological observatory of the city of Haikou downgraded its typhoon signal from red to orange on Saturday, as it moved further away.
Before leaving Hong Kong, Yagi forced more than 270 people to seek refuge at temporary government shelters on Friday, and over 100 flights in the city were canceled due to the typhoon. Heavy rain and strong winds felled dozens of trees, and trading on the stock market, bank services and schools were halted.
Yagi was still a storm when it blew out of the northwestern Philippines into the South China Sea on Wednesday, leaving at least 20 people dead and 26 others missing mostly in landslides and widespread flooding and affecting more than 2.3 million people in northern and central provinces.
More than 82,200 people were displaced from their homes in Philippine provinces, and classes, work, inter-island ferry services and domestic flights were disrupted for days, including in the densely populated capital region, metropolitan Manila.
