Hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated from their homes in Vietnam as powerful Typhoon Noru made landfall in the country, two days after the storm devastated and inundated homes in the Philippines.
The storm reached the coast of Central Vietnam on Tuesday at 117 kilometers per hour, mainly in Thua Thien-Hue, Da Nang, Quang Nam, and Quang Ngai. An unspecified number of schools and shops have been closed.
Vinh International Airport has said that it would be temporarily closed and actively monitor the situation. Over 133,000 residents have been evacuated, and curfews have been imposed in Quang Nam province.
Fallen trees, torn roofs, and widespread power outages have been reported, affecting nearly 555,000 families in several provinces.
There have been no fatalities recorded as of Wednesday, VN Express reported.
Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh said Wednesday that the storm has weakened into a tropical depression, but he urged people to remain vigilant for possible flash floods due to torrential rains.
A man rides a motorbike in a flooded street following the passage of typhoon Noru in Hoi An city, Quang Nam province on Sept. 28, 2022. (Nhac Nguyen/AFP via Getty Images)
Nguyen Van Huong, head of the weather forecast department under the National Hydro Meteorological Forecasting Center, anticipated the north-central region to receive rainfall of 100 to 250 mm from Wednesday to Friday.
“Experiences from recent storms show that when storms land, we are relatively safe, but when they have gone, there would be damages left behind due to landslides and flash floods, and therefore people need to pay attention,” he said.
A man walks along the beach following the passage of typhoon Noru in Danang, in Vietnam, on Sept. 28, 2022. (Nhac NguyenAFP via Getty Images)
The typhoon is expected to make landfall in the central and southern provinces of Laos on Wednesday. The Lao weather bureau has issued a warning and requested that all dams prepare emergency plans.
The Thai Meteorological Department predicted on Tuesday that the storm will hit Thailand’s north-eastern provinces on Thursday before weakening to a tropical depression.
But it warned of subsequent heavy rains, according to local reports.
Typhoon Noru was the most powerful storm to hit the Philippines this year, killing at least eight people when it made landfall on Sunday, including a group of rescuers scrambling to save villagers trapped in floodwaters.
Residents pass by a flooded road from Typhoon Noru in San Miguel town, Bulacan province, Philippines, on Sept. 26, 2022. (Aaron Favila/AP Photo)
Five government rescuers drowned in San Miguel town in Bulacan Province after their boat overturned when it was hit by a collapsed wall, tossing them into rampaging floodwaters, police and officials said.
Nearly 80,000 people were moved to emergency shelters, some forcibly, across the main Luzon island, disaster-response officials said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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