Storm makes landfall in central Vietnam

Typhoon Kalmaegi made landfall in central Vietnam overnight, tearing roofs from homes in Gia Lai province and cutting electricity to more than 1.6 million households. The storm, the 13th to hit Vietnam this year, came ashore near Quy Nhon packing sustained winds of up to 149 kilometres per hour, according to the environment ministry.

Residents of Quy Nhon spent the night without power as the storm swept through the coastal city, toppling trees and billboards and ripping sheet-metal roofs from shops, hotels and homes. Rescue workers and soldiers were seen clearing uprooted trees and debris from the streets along the beach on Friday morning.

Power outages and damage

Vietnam Electricity's Central Power Corporation said more than 1.6 million households lost power as Kalmaegi battered the central coast. By 6pm on Friday, power had been restored to more than 968,000 customers, with the remaining outages concentrated in Gia Lai, Dak Lak, Quang Ngai and Da Nang, where the grid sustained heavy damage.

The environment ministry reported five deaths in Vietnam and said 57 houses had collapsed in Gia Lai and neighbouring Dak Lak. Authorities were still assessing the full damage on Friday morning.

Heavy rain as storm moves inland

Before landfall, the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting warned of extremely heavy rain across the central region, with 200 to 400 millimetres forecast and more than 600 millimetres in some places. Six airports in the region temporarily suspended flights.

The fast-moving storm weakened as it moved inland towards Laos and Thailand, but heavy rain was still forecast for much of the central coast. Kalmaegi had already caused deadly flooding in the Philippines, where it killed at least 114 people before crossing the South China Sea towards Vietnam.