Thousands of people in Vietnam sought shelter as a powerful tropical storm barreled toward its northern coast yesterday, after killing 43 people in the Philippines and slamming into southeast China.
Beijing, which had issued its first red typhoon alert of the year, downgraded Typhoon Nesat to a “strong tropical storm” as it slowed at sea, after forcing 300,000 people to evacuate on the tropical island of Hainan.
Gale force winds and torrential rain continued to lash China’s southeast coast yesterday and high winds buffeted Hanoi, where forecasters said Nesat would hit Vietnam’s northeast coast in the afternoon.
Photo: AFP
“According to our predictions, after reaching land the typhoon will be weaker but still powerful,” Vietnam’s National Weather Forecasting Center Director Bui Minh Tang said.
“It will be accompanied by heavy rain and violent winds,” he added.
Voice of Vietnam radio reported that about 5,000 residents of an island off the northeastern port city of Haiphong had sought shelter.
Authorities earlier said fishing boats should return to port and urged farmers to harvest crops quickly to reduce potential losses from Nesat.
On Thursday on China’s Hainan Island, authorities called more than 27,000 boats back to port, suspended flight and ferry services and closed schools, but there were no reports of injuries or deaths.
Chinese state media said the storm had caused substantial damage, with direct economic losses of more than 500 million yuan (US$78 million) in one Hainan city alone.
In Hong Kong, life was returning to normal after the city was shut down by the typhoon on Thursday, with three people reported injured by falling scaffolding and tree branches.
In the Philippines, tens of thousands of people battled neck-deep floodwaters after Nesat’s deadly path across Luzon.
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