Super Typhoon Yagi bears down on Vietnam

[bust]

Super Typhoon Yagi made landfall in Vietnam on Saturday, the meteorological agency said, uprooting thousands of trees, sweeping ships and boats out to sea and killing at least one person in the country.

Before hitting the mainland, the typhoon hit the island Đảo Cô Tô, about 80 kilometres from mainland province Quảng Ninh.

Local authorities said the typhoon was the most severe to hit the island in decades.

It has been named 2024's second-most powerful tropical cyclone in the world and most powerful storm in Asia, categorised by Vietnam's meteorological agency as a level 14 typhoon.

It then landed on Vietnam's Haiphong and Quảng Ninh provinces at 1pm local time, packing winds exceeding 149 kilometres per hour, the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting said.

Vietnam's northern provinces hit with 'unbelievable' winds

 

The coastal city of Haiphong, with a population of two million, is so far among the hardest hit by the winds.

Parts of the city experienced power outages on Saturday, authorities said.

Hundreds of cruises were cancelled in Quảng Ninh — which is home to UNESCO World Heritage site Hạ Long Bay — ahead of the storm, state media reported.

Further inland in Hải Dương province, a man was killed in the street after heavy winds brought down a tree as the storm approached landfall, according to state media.

"It has been years since I witnessed a typhoon this big," Tran Thi Hoa, a 48-year-old woman from Haiphong, said.

"It was scary. I stayed indoors, after locking all my windows. However, the sound of the wind and the rain was unbelievable."

Debris was seen flying in the air in Haiphong

Vietnam Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh called on local authorities to evacuate residents from dangerous areas before the storm hit. He urged those who did not evacuate to stay indoors.

Around 20,000 people have been evacuated and moved to higher ground in the north of Haiphong, Thái Binh and capital Hanoi, local authorities reported.

Vietnam has evacuated nearly 50,000 people from coastal towns and deployed 450,000 military personnel in total, the government said.

More than 457,000 were mobilised by the Ministry of Defence's rescue and relief department to deal with the fallout from the typhoon.

Some 2,000 vehicles and six planes have been sent to deal with the situation.

Northern Vietnam has been experiencing heavy rains and strong winds since Friday evening, including in Hanoi.

Parts of Haiphong experienced power outages, while some residents were evacuated.

Authorities had pruned trees in Hanoi to make them less susceptible to falling, but wind and rain knocked over several along with billboards in northern cities ahead of the typhoon landing.

Local media also reported that many moored boats were swept out to sea.

A woman was killed in the capital on Friday afternoon when a tree fell in the street after heavy rains.

Four airports in northern Vietnam — including Hanoi's Noi Bai International Airport — have been closed at the cost of more than 300 flights, while sailing has been banned since Friday.

High schools were also closed in 12 northern provinces, including in the capital Hanoi.

[Mekong]

Just been chatting with my Romanian buddy / Electrical Engineer who lives in Hai Phong. He said they were planned power outages to prevent both electrocution and damage to the electrical switchgear if power lines were to go down. Standard procedure in adverse weather 

[Coss]

I saw briefly a story, that when Yagi got to China and was downgraded a bit, it went through an area with lots of skyscrapers.

Wherein all the denizens had hung their washing on balconies and in windows etc. as is their custom, resulting in clouds of underwear swirling in the streets