Monstrous typhoon tears through Philippines and China, kills 22

Published September 8, 2024
PEOPLE ride scooters past falling trees after the typhoon hit Haikou, in China’s Hainan province, on Saturday.—AFP
PEOPLE ride scooters past falling trees after the typhoon hit Haikou, in China’s Hainan province, on Saturday.—AFP

HANOI: Asia’s most powerful storm this year made landfall in northern Vietnam on Saturday, the meteorological agency said, killing at least four people after tearing through China’s island of Hainan and the Philippines.

Super Typhoon Yagi hit island districts of north Vietnam around 1pm, generating winds of up to 160 kph near its centre, having lost power from its peak of 234 kph in Hainan a day earlier.

The government said that as of 5pm four people had died and 78 had been injured by the typhoon. Several were missing at sea, according to state media.

Yagi had already claimed the lives of at least two people in Hainan and 16 people in the Philippines, the first country it hit, having formed east of the archipelago earlier in the week.

The storm cuts power to 800,000 homes in China’s Hainan province

Vietnam’s coastal city of Haiphong, an industrial hub with a population of two million people that hosts factories from foreign multinationals and local carmaker VinFast, was among the hardest-hit by winds with speeds of up to 90 kph.

As the typhoon approached, the city experienced widespread power outages on Saturday, authorities said, as did at least three other northern provinces.

In Haiphong, the strong winds smashed windows and waves were as much as three meters high when they hit the coast, according to a witness. Metal roofing sheets were blown away, pictures and footage on local media showed. The government said thousands of trees had fallen and many houses were damaged across northern Vietnam.

Before hitting the Vietnamese mainland, the typhoon unrooted hundreds of trees on Co To island, about 80 kilometres from mainland Quang Ninh. Several office buildings, schools and houses on the island were unroofed by the powerful winds. Signboards lay scattered around the island, while electrical lines were snapped and tangled by the wind.

Earlier in Hainan, which has a population of more than 10 million, the storm felled trees, flooded roads and cut power to more than 800,000 homes.

Airports closed

Vietnam evacuated more than 50,000 people from coastal towns and deployed 450,000 military personnel, the government said. It also suspended operations for several hours at four airports, including Hanoi’s Noi Bai, the busiest in the north, which cancelled more than 300 flights.

Published in Dawn, September 8th, 2024

Opinion

Editorial

Smog hazard
Updated 05 Nov, 2024

Smog hazard

The catastrophe unfolding in Lahore is a product of authorities’ repeated failure to recognise environmental impact of rapid urbanisation.
Monetary policy
05 Nov, 2024

Monetary policy

IN an aggressive move, the State Bank on Monday reduced its key policy rate by a hefty 250bps to 15pc. This is the...
Cultural power
05 Nov, 2024

Cultural power

AS vital modes of communication, art and culture have the power to overcome social and international barriers....
Disregarding CCI
Updated 04 Nov, 2024

Disregarding CCI

The failure to regularly convene CCI meetings means that the process of democratic decision-making is falling apart.
Defeating TB
04 Nov, 2024

Defeating TB

CONSIDERING the fact that Pakistan has the fifth highest burden of tuberculosis in the world as per the World Health...
Ceasefire charade
Updated 04 Nov, 2024

Ceasefire charade

The US talks of peace, while simultaneously arming and funding their Israeli allies, are doomed to fail, and are little more than a charade.