HAI PHONG (AFP) — Super typhoon “Yagi” uprooted thousands of trees and swept ships and boats out to sea, killing one person, as it made landfall in northern Vietnam Saturday, after blowing past southern China where it left two dead.
The typhoon hit Hai Phong and Quang Ninh provinces, packing winds exceeding 149 kilometers (kms) per hour, the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting said.
In Hai Phong, metal roof sheets and commercial sign boards were seen flying across the city sky as the typhoon hit.
Further inland in Hai Duong province, a man was killed in the street after heavy winds brought down a tree as the storm approached landfall, according to state media.
“It has been years since I witnessed a typhoon this big,” said Tran Thi Hoa, a 48-year-old woman from Hai Phong.
“It was scary. I stayed indoors, after locking all my windows. However, the sound of the wind and the rain was unbelievable,” she told Agence France-Presse.
Powerful winds
Before hitting the mainland, the typhoon unrooted hundreds of trees on Co To island, about 80 kms 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.
Local authorities said the typhoon was the most severe to hit the island in decades.
The storm killed at least two people and injured 92 others on southern China’s Hainan island before hitting Vietnam and forcing the evacuation of around 460,000 people.
The storm lashed “Hainan with heavy rain and gusty winds, leaving at least two dead and 92 injured,” Xinhua said, citing local authorities.
Around 20,000 people have been evacuated and moved to safer, higher ground in the north of Hai Phong, Thai Binh and Hanoi, local authorities reported. Many are being sheltered in schools, kindergartens, and other public buildings.
More than 457,000, many professional men, were mobilized by the Ministry of Defense’s rescue and relief department to deal with the fallout from the typhoon. Some 2,000 vehicles and six planes have been sent to deal with the situation.
Northern Vietnam has been experiencing heavy rains and strong winds since Friday evening, including in the capital, Hanoi.
A woman was killed in the capital on Friday afternoon when a tree fell in the street after heavy rains.