Vietnam, Philippines suffer third typhoon in three weeks

A category 3 typhoon slammed into central Vietnam, days after killing 188 people in the Philippines.

The storm marked the third typhoon to rock the two countries in the last three weeks.

Typhoon Kalmaegi made landfall on Thursday between Tuy Hoa and Quy Nhon with sustained winds of up to 125 mph as it tracked into Vietnam’s mountainous coffee region before it moved to Laos. 

“The roof (second floor) of my house was just blown away,” Nguyen Van Tam, a 42-year-old fisherman told Tuoi Tre. 

“We were all safe, (but) the typhoon was really terrible, so many trees fallen,” he said, adding his boat had survived intact. 

Images from Vietnam media show coastal devastation with collapsed buildings and widespread flooding.  

The storm was the 20th named storm to hit the Philippines this year, CNN said, and the 13th to hammer Vietnam, according to Vietnam media.  

Vietnam lies in one of the most active typhoon regions in the world, averaging 10 storms per year.  

Authorities put the death toll at five so far with three missing, according to the Associated Press (AP). The missing are fishermen who were swept out to sea, the AP said. 

Truong Trong Huy, who hails from Tuy Hoa in Phu Yen province, told The Lion while the wind was much stronger than other storms, the major danger is flooding in Vietnam’s lowland regions. 

“Hoi An [100 miles further north] was hit just a week ago by the Fengshen storm, with flooding up to the rooftops, so the ground is already soaked. Thankfully my family is safe,” he said.  

Vietnam Express (VNE) reports rain caused the water to rise 3-5 feet within hours as Fengshen came ashore. 

With approximately 2,000 miles of coastline and a network of 2,300 rivers, Vietnam faces a high risk of flooding, Tuoi Tre said. 

Typhoons continue to pick up moisture from oceans as they make landfall and then dump it as heavy rain on the south, landward side of the storm. So even as the storm weakens, the potential for devastating floods remains. 

In early October, Storm Bualoi made landfall, killing 51.  

VNE shared video of seas lashing boats in Vietnam’s East Sea, while winds blew in glass storefronts as the most recent storm, Kalmaegi, made landfall over five hours.  

Approximately 1.6 million residents are currently without power, VNE said.  

Videos of widespread flooding in central Vietnam were published by Reuters.  

In the Philippines, recovery efforts are ramping up amid vast damage in provinces such as Cebu, where floodwaters exposed flattened homes and vehicles were piled in the streets.  

Scenes of devastation show residents sweeping knee-deep mud from their houses, cars overturned or submerged, and entire neighborhoods without power.  

“As of noon, we have 2.4 million individuals directly affected — that covers 6,000 barangays [villages] or close to 681,000 families,” the Philippines civil defense office’s Deputy Administrator Bernardo Rafaelito Alejandro IV said, according to the New York Times.   

Meanwhile, the Philippine weather agency is tracking a second storm forming east of Mindanao, threatening to make landfall early next week. 

Officials are racing to mobilize resources, warning the window for recovery after Kalmaegi may be dangerously short. 

Typhoon Fung-wong is forecast to strengthen into a super typhoon as it nears the Philippines this weekend, according to a Friday advisory from the Hong Kong Observatory, reports Reuters.   

Forecasters expect the storm’s winds to reach about 122 miles per hour. 

While the Philippines are in danger, the storm is supposed to loop north toward Taiwan, and away from Vietnam. 

(Featured image: Aerial view of Chiang Rai downtown flooding by Kok river after Typhoon Yagi swept Southeast Asia in 2024)