Vietnam said it evacuated almost 30,000 residents from coastal areas on Sunday as Typhoon Bualoi hit the country’s steel-producing central belt.
The storm — the 10th to affect Vietnam this year — made landfall after 10PM (1600 GMT) generating winds of 130 kilometres per hour (80 miles per hour), according the Joint Typhoon Warning Centre.
Provinces and cities from Ninh Binh to Quang Ngai evacuated over 28,500 people, and one person died with four others missing, according to Vietnam’s disaster and dyke management authority.
More than 15,000 residents in Ha Tinh — known as a key steel production hub — were slated for evacuation to schools and medical centres converted into temporary shelters, authorities said earlier in the day.
Nearly 117,000 military personnel have been mobilised. Four domestic airports were shut and all fishing boats in the typhoon’s path have been called back to harbour.
“I feel a bit anxious but still hopeful that everything will be fine in the aftermath. We were all safe after the recent typhoon Kajiki. I hope this one will be the same or less severe,” Nguyen Cuong, 29, a resident of Ha Tinh City, told AFP.
“This is a fast-moving storm with very strong intensity and a wide area of impact, capable of causing a combination of various types of natural disasters such as strong winds, heavy rain, floods, landslides, and coastal inundation,” state media quoted centre director Mai Van Khiem as saying.
Scientists warn that storms are becoming more powerful as the world warms due to the effects of human-driven climate change.
In Vietnam, more than 100 people were killed or went missing from natural disasters in the first seven months of 2025, according to the agriculture ministry.
Vietnam suffered $3.3 billion in economic losses last September as a result of Typhoon Yagi, which swept across the country’s north and caused hundreds of fatalities.
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© Agence France-Presse
