Long-lasting Typhoon Bualoi devastated homes, infrastructure, and farms in Vietnam, killing 19 people and flooding large areas on Tuesday.
With gusts of 130 kilometers per hour (80 miles per hour), Bualoi made landfall in central Vietnam late Sunday and stayed over land for over 12 hours.
The head of the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting, Mai Van Khiem, stated on Tuesday that the duration was “very rare” in comparison to prior typhoons.
“This typhoon — the tenth that hit Vietnam this year — was a serious natural disaster, bringing a combination of strong winds, huge flash floods and widespread flooding,” Khiem said.
By Tuesday, the typhoon and its aftermath, including a whirlwind in the north on Monday, had killed 19 people and injured more than 80, according to a report from the environment ministry.
A search for 21 others was ongoing — including several sailors whose fishing vessels became unmoored by strong winds and currents.
More than 100,000 houses were damaged, and around 2,700 families were stranded in central Ha Tinh province, the ministry said.
“I have not experienced such a strong typhoon in several decades,” Le Hong Luyen, 62, from Nghe An province told AFP. “My house and garden are all flooded.”
In addition to uprooting over 10,000 trees and bringing down electrical poles, the storm destroyed 225 square kilometers of rice and other agriculture and caused power disruptions in a number of central districts on Tuesday.
On Tuesday, alerts about potential landslides in mountainous regions and rising river levels were continually updated by disaster and weather agencies.
Forecasters have warned of two to three more storms this year, although the Southeast Asian country often experiences up to ten storms every year.
According to scientists, typhoons and other extreme weather events are becoming more powerful due to human-induced climate change, making them more lethal and destructive.
Storms in Vietnam have caused $371 million in damage from January to August, triple the amount from the same period last year, the General Statistics Office (GSO) said.
Typhoon Yagi killed hundreds of people in Vietnam in September last year and caused economic losses worth $3.3 billion.
The capital Hanoi also suffered heavy rain from late Monday, with widespread flooding disrupting traffic.
“The floodwater reached almost the top of my motorbike. It was a terrible morning. My bike got damaged,” said Hanoi resident Tran Thanh Huong, who never reached her office after almost two hours of trying.
Typhoon Bualoi also battered small islands in the centre of the Philippines last week, unleashing floods, killing 27 people and forcing 400,000 to evacuate.
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