HANOI: At least two people have died and 17 others were missing after Typhoon Bualoi hit Vietnam on Monday (Sep 29), with houses damaged and power grids knocked out as the storm brought flooding rains and huge swells before losing some of its strength as it headed towards Laos.
The typhoon was over Nghe An province as of 8am local time (9am, Singapore time), with maximum wind speeds weakening to 88kmh from 117kmh when it made landfall hours earlier, according to the national weather forecast agency.
Before making landfall, Bualoi had moved along the country’s coastline for several hours, causing waves as high as 8m, according to the national weather agency.
One person died after being caught in floodwater in Hue city, and another was killed by a falling tree in Thanh Hoa province, the government’s disaster management agency said.
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, the typhoon was moving over Nghe An province into Laos, with maximum wind speeds weakening to 74kmh from 117kmh when it made landfall, the weather agency said.
Bualoi has so far damaged 245 houses, inundated nearly 1,400ha 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.
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