Tens of thousands of people are being evacuated from Vietnam’s central coast as Typhoon Kajiki approaches, bringing winds of up to 160 km/h and heavy rains.
Tens of thousands of residents were being evacuated from coastal Vietnam on Monday, as Typhoon Kajiki barrelled towards landfall expected to lash the country’s central belt with gales of around 160 kmh.
The typhoon – the fifth to affect Vietnam this year – is currently at sea, roiling the Gulf of Tonkin with waves of up to 9.5 metres (31 feet).
More than 325,500 residents in five coastal provinces have been slated for evacuation to schools and public buildings converted into temporary shelters, authorities said.
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The waterfront city of Vinh was deluged overnight, its streets largely deserted by morning with most shops and restaurants closed as residents and business-owners sandbagged their property entrances.
By dawn nearly 30,000 people had been evacuated from the region, as 16,000 military personnel were mobilised.
Two domestic airports were shut and all fishing ships in the typhoon’s path have been called back to harbour.
“I have never heard of a typhoon of this big scale coming to our city,” said 66-year-old Le Manh Tung at a Vinh indoor sports stadium, where evacuated families dined on a simple breakfast of sticky rice.
“I am a bit scared, but then we have to accept it because it’s nature – we cannot do anything,” he told AFP, among only a few dozen people camped out at the evacuation site on Monday morning.
The typhoon is expected to make landfall around 1:00 pm (0600 GMT) with winds of 157 kilometres per hour (98 miles per hour), Vietnam’s National