Eva Deschamps / September 7, 2024
Super typhoon Yagi made landfall in Vietnam on Saturday afternoon, according to state media, after claiming two lives and causing extensive damage in southern China.
Yagi hit the provinces of Quang Ninh and Haiphong, in northern Vietnam, uprooting thousands of trees and washing boats out to sea, according to VNExpress. In Haiphong, metal roofs and billboards were blown across the city by the strong wind and heavy rain.
“It's been years since I've seen a typhoon of this magnitude,” Tran Thi Hoa, a 48-year-old Haiphong resident, told AFP.
In Vietnam, the typhoon was expected to pass through Halong Bay, a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Before the storm, Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh had called on local authorities to evacuate residents from danger zones. He also asked other residents not to leave their homes.
Some 20,000 people were evacuated to safer, higher-lying areas in the north of Haiphong, Thai Binh and Hanoi, local authorities said. They were accommodated in schools, kindergartens and other public buildings.
Four airports in the north of the country, including the capital's Noi Bai international airport, were closed and shipping had been banned since Friday.