In Vietnam, the authorities took hundreds of thousands of people to safety as a precaution before the arrival of the violent tropical storm “Noru”. The typhoon is expected to be one of the most violent to hit the Southeast Asian country in the past two decades, Vietnamese media reported.
Heavy downpours fell in the affected regions on Tuesday, even before “Noru” hit land. In the province of Phu Yen on the South China Sea alone, 20,000 fishermen were brought ashore. The government ordered exit restrictions.
Numerous people in the coastal regions of central Vietnam tried to make their houses storm-proof and stocked up on groceries. Ten airports, including in the city of Da Nang, which is popular with tourists, were to be closed by Wednesday, and all flights were canceled. The typhoon is expected to reach Vietnam on Wednesday morning (local time).
The extent of the damage is only slowly becoming apparent
“Noru” had previously raged in the Philippines, driving 50,000 people to flee. The number of fatalities had risen to eight by Tuesday, said civil protection. Three people would be missing. The provinces of Bulacan, Zambales, Bataan and Quezon on the main island of Luzon were particularly hard hit. Many areas are flooded. The extent of the damage is only slowly becoming known.
“Noru”, which is called “Karding” in the Philippines, made landfall in the island nation on Sunday evening (local time). The gusts reached top speeds of 240 kilometers per hour. At times, the storm was classified as a “super typhoon”. However, it had weakened since Monday and left the Philippines on Tuesday.
With wind speeds of 140 kilometers per hour, the hurricane was heading west. It was expected to pick up steam again. According to calculations, after Vietnam “Noru” will move further into the north-east of Thailand. The authorities predicted heavy rainfall for large parts of the country.
