Vietnam Evacuates Thousands and Closes Airports as Typhoon Bualoi Approaches Landfall
Typhoon Bualoi, which is moving quickly and is expected to bring severe winds and heavy rainfall, has forced Vietnam to close its airports and evacuate thousands of people.
As Typhoon Bualoi moved fast near Vietnam’s central coast on Sunday, the country closed its airports and started mass evacuations. Days after the typhoon caused devastating flooding and the deaths of at least ten people in the Philippines, it comes.
The official weather forecasting organization of Vietnam said that as of 0200 GMT, Bualoi was delivering winds of high to 133 km/h (83 mph). It is currently scheduled to land in central Vietnam late on Sunday, sooner than initially anticipated, and is moving at about double the typical speed of storms in the area.
“This is a powerful storm with a wide area of influence that is traveling at a speed that is almost twice the norm. It can cause a number of natural disasters at once, such as strong winds, a lot of rain, flooding, flash floods, landslides, and coastal flooding, the agency cautioned.
Thousands of military are on standby for emergency operations, and authorities in Ha Tinh province have evacuated around 15,000 residents in advance of the storm. A number of aircraft’ timetables were changed, and the Civil Aviation Authority declared that operations at four coastal airports, including Danang International Airport, would be suspended.
The central provinces of Hue and Quang Tri have already seen floods due to heavy rain, according to the government.
With its lengthy coastline in the South China Sea, Vietnam is regularly hit by catastrophic cyclones. Typhoon Yagi killed almost 300 people and caused property damage worth an estimated $3.3 billion last year.
