Two people have died and 17 are missing after Typhoon Bualoi slammed into Vietnam on Monday, damaging homes and knocking out power as torrential rain and heavy swells triggered flooding before the storm weakened on its path toward Laos.
Bualoi tracked along Vietnam’s north–central coast and made landfall early Monday, whipping up waves of up to eight metres, the national weather agency said.
According to the government’s disaster management authority, one victim was swept away by floodwaters in Hue, while another was killed by a falling tree in Thanh Hoa province.
Seventeen fishermen were missing after huge waves hit two fishing boats off Quang Tri province, while another fishing boat lost contact during the storm, according to the agency.
"I've witnessed many storms, and this is one of the strongest," said 45-year-old Nguyen Tuan Vinh in Nghe An province as he was cleaning up debris.
Vinh's neighbours said they stayed up all night trying to protect their homes, even as the power to their apartment building went down.
"I stayed awake the whole night fearing the door would be pulled off by strong winds," said resident Ho Van Quynh.
By 11am (0400 GMT), the typhoon was moving over Nghe An province into Laos, with maximum wind speeds weakening to 74 kph from 117 kph when it made landfall, the weather agency said.
Bualoi has so far damaged 245 houses, inundated nearly 1,400 hectares of rice and other crops, and cut off access to several areas, the disaster management agency said in a report.
No major damage to industrial properties was mentioned in the report, though there are some large factories in or near Bualoi's path, including those owned by Foxconn, Luxshare, Formosa Plastics and Vinfast.
Ahead of the typhoon hitting, the government had evacuated more than 28,500 people, while hundreds of flights were cancelled or delayed as four airports in central provinces were closed.
The cyclone has triggered heavy rains across most of Vietnam since Saturday, and authorities have warned of the risk of severe floods and landslides.
Rainfall in several parts of the country was forecast to hit 500 millimetres from Sunday night through Tuesday, according to the weather agency.
With a long coastline facing the South China Sea, Vietnam is prone to typhoons that are often formed east of the Philippines, where at least 10 people died after Bualoi hit there last week.