Typhoon Kalmegi hit Vietnam on Thursday, forcing authorities to cancel hundreds of flights and order citizens to stay indoors, two days after the storm began ravaging the Philippines, where at least 114 people have died, Reuters reports.
Kalmegi, with winds of up to 149 kilometers per hour, ripped roofs off houses and toppled trees and telephone poles, according to the national meteorological service. The storm raised waves up to 10 meters high as it hit the central coast, the agency added.
Officials closed six airports and the government said more than 260.000 people in Gia Lai province had been evacuated to safety. Kalmegi is the 13th storm to hit Vietnam this year and one of the strongest.
The government said more than 268.000 soldiers had been put on standby for search and rescue operations. It warned of flooding in low-lying areas and possible consequences for agriculture, including in the Central Highlands, the main coffee-growing region.
Farmers fear for crops
As the storm approached, hotels and houses along Cua Dai Beach, near the UNESCO-listed ancient town of Hoi An, were closed, Reuters reports.
Near the coastal city of Hue, farmers were still recovering from floods earlier this week that killed 47 people.
Farmer Nguyen Van Rin (42) said that all his farm animals and poultry died during the recent floods.
"The Kalmegi will flood us for the fourth time and I'm afraid it will be quite bad," he said as he crossed the flooded road in a boat, while vehicles moved slowly through the water.
Collapsed houses, overturned vehicles
In the Philippines, the scale of the devastation caused by Kalmegi became clearer on Thursday, when waters receded in the hardest-hit province of Cebu, revealing flattened houses, overturned vehicles and streets littered with rubble.
As of late Thursday, 127 people were still missing, and efforts to deliver aid and recover bodies were hampered by the extent of the damage left by Kalmegi — the 20th storm to hit the Philippines this year.
"The challenge now is to clear the rubble... They must be removed immediately, not only to find the missing, who could be among them or in safe areas, but also so that relief operations can continue," Rafi Alejandro, a senior civil protection official, told DZBB radio, Reuters reports.
Photos from the Philippines
The devastation caused by Kalmegi in Cebu comes just over a month after a 6,9-magnitude earthquake hit the island, killing several dozen people and displacing thousands.
Meteorologists were also monitoring a new storm east of the Philippine island of Mindanao, which could strengthen into a typhoon and hit the country early next week.
"My children have nothing"
Some Cebu residents returned on Thursday to find their homes destroyed, while others began a painstaking cleanup, removing mud from their houses and streets.
"Everything is destroyed. Only the floor is left. Everything is taken away. We have nothing," said Liza Bekus, returning to the remains of the hut she built herself in Talisay City, Cebu.
She collected metal and iron plates to sell to buy rice for her seven children.
"My children have nothing. Their uniforms, bags and all our belongings are gone," she said.
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