NHA TRANG, Vietnam (AP) — Typhoon Kalmaegi made landfall Thursday north of Gia Lai province in central Vietnam, lashing the region with fierce winds and torrential rain after leaving more than 100 people dead and dozens missing in the Philippines.
An unusually strong storm for the region in November, it was packing sustained winds of about 183 kph (114 mph) with gusts reaching up to 220 kph (137 mph) over the South China Sea as it approached Vietnam, said forecasters.
Vietnam's central provinces are already reeling from floods due to record-breaking rains. Kalmaegi is forecast to dump more than 600 millimeters (24 inches) of rain in some areas.
Authorities said more than 537,000 people were evacuated from five provinces, including Hue, Da Nang, and Dak Lak, as floodwaters rose and landslides loomed.
In Ly Son Island, in the Quang Ngai province, three fishermen were reported missing after their boat was swept away by strong waves. A search operation was launched but later suspended due to worsening weather, state media said. Meanwhile, Da Nang and Khanh Hoa guided 61,000 boats carrying nearly 290,000 workers to safe shelter.
Bracing for Kalmaegi
In coastal cities like Danang, waves up to 3 meters (10 feet) high battered the coast and strong winds uprooted trees in Dak Lak province. Many homes in Quy Nhon, also a coastal city, were left without power for hours.
The country’s financial hub, Ho Chi Minh City, faces a heightened risk of severe floods. High tides were also expected on the Saigon River, and authorities warned up to 100 millimeters (4 inches) of expected rainfall could inundate low-lying areas.
Across the central Philippines, Kalmaegi killed at least 114 people and left 127 missing in the deadliest natural disaster to hit the country this year. Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. declared a state of emergency on Thursday.
After sowing death and destruction in the Philippines, especially in the hard-hit central province of Cebu, the tropical cyclone blew out of the archipelago on Wednesday into the South China Sea.
In Cebu’s town of Liloan, Krizza Espra went to the mortuary on Thursday, where the bodies of her husband and three children, killed when their roof collapsed, were held ahead of a wake. She said four others in her family — including her mother and aunt — remain missing.
“I hope someone can help speed up the search,” she said.
The toll in the Philippines
The typhoon displaced more than 560,000 villagers in the Philippines, including nearly 450,000 who were evacuated to emergency shelters, the Office of Civil Defense said.
Marcos’s “state of national calamity” declaration allows the government to disburse emergency funds faster and prevent food hoarding and overpricing. Disaster-response officials warned that another tropical cyclone from the Pacific could strengthen into a super typhoon and batter the northern Philippines early next week.
Among the deaths attributed to Kalmaegi were six people who were killed when a Philippine air force helicopter crashed in the southern province of Agusan del Sur on Tuesday. The crew was on its way to provide humanitarian help to provinces battered by the typhoon, the military said. It did not give the cause of the crash.
Kalmaegi dumped about one-and-a-half months' worth of rainfall in just a day on Tuesday in metropolitan Cebu, state forecaster Benison Estareja said.
It set off flash floods and caused a river and other waterways to swell in Cebu city and outlying towns. The resulting flooding engulfed residential communities, forcing residents to climb onto their roofs, where they desperately pleaded to be rescued as floodwaters quickly rose, provincial officials said.
Rampaging floodwaters submerged or swept away scores of vehicles in Cebu's residential enclaves, in shocking scenes that were caught on camera by residents stranded on roofs.
At least 71 people died in Cebu, mostly due to drownings, while 65 others were reported missing and 69 injured, the Office of Civil Defense said.
Officials added that 62 others were reported missing in the central province of Negros Occidental, near Cebu.
“We did everything we can for the typhoon but, you know, there are really some unexpected things like flash floods,” Cebu Gov. Pamela Baricuatro told The Associated Press by telephone.
Quarrying that caused clogging of nearby rivers, which overflowed, and substandard flood control projects in Cebu province may have exacerbated the storm's effects, Baricuatro said.
A corruption scandal involving substandard or non-existent flood control projects across the Philippines has sparked public outrage and street protests in recent months.
Cebu is still recovering from a 6.9 magnitude earthquake on Sept. 30 that killed at least 79 and displaced thousands when houses collapsed or were severely damaged.
Storm after storm
The Philippines is battered by about 20 typhoons and storms each year. The country also is often hit by earthquakes and has more than a dozen active volcanoes, making it one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries.
Vietnam, which gets about a dozen typhoons and storms a year, has been pummeled by a relentless series this year, leaving little time to recover between disasters.
dumped torrential rain in late September, then and resulted in flooding in the north. Together, the three storms left more than 85 people dead or missing in two weeks, and caused an estimated $1.36 billion in damage.
Vietnam is among the world’s most flood-prone countries, with nearly half its population living in high-risk areas. Scientists warn that a warming climate is intensifying storms and rainfall across Southeast Asia, making floods like this year’s increasingly destructive and frequent.
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Gomez reported from Manila, Philippines. Associated Press journalist Jaqueline Hernandez in Cebu, Philippines, contributed to this report.
