 "Drone view of wrecked homes after heavy flooding caused by Typhoon Kalmaegi in Talisay, Cebu, Philippines, November 5, 2025. File Image/Reuters")
Typhoon Kalmaegi has made landfall in central Vietnam.
The country has initiated the evacuation of thousands of residents from its coastal areas on Thursday as Kalmaegi, one of the deadliest cyclones globally this year.
The ferocious storm has entered Vietnam after having already left a significant trail of destruction and loss of life in the Philippines earlier this week.
In the Philippines, Kalmaegi has been blamed for the deaths of at least 140 people, with an additional 127 people still reported missing following devastating floods triggered by the storm.
The typhoon slammed into central Vietnam late Thursday night, bringing sustained winds of up to 149 kilometres per hour (92 mph).
According to the environment ministry, the storm also generated significantly faster gusts, indicating the extreme intensity of the typhoon as it made landfall along the country’s central coast.
“The wind is so so strong, nothing can resist,” Vu Van Hao, 48, told AFP as he surveyed the shards of windows shattered by the storm in the lobby of a hotel in Gia Lai province.
“We here have never experienced such strong wind like this. It’s a natural disaster, what can we do?”
Vietnam, already one of the world’s most storm-battered nations, typically faces around 10 typhoons a year, but Kalmaegi marks the 13th in 2025. Experts warn the spike in severe weather is yet another sign of climate change intensifying nature’s fury.