HANOI: Typhoon Bualoi tore through Vietnam’s coast on Monday (Sep 29), killing eight people and leaving 17 others missing as strong winds and rain damaged houses, knocked out power and flooded roads before the storm lost some strength as it headed towards Laos.
Bualoi had moved along the country’s northern central coastline before making landfall early on Monday, causing waves as high as 8m, the national weather 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, the government’s disaster management agency said.
“I stayed awake the whole night fearing the door would be pulled off by strong winds,” said Ho Van Quynh from Nghe An province. His neighbours said they spent the night trying to protect their homes as the power to their apartment building went out.
“I’ve witnessed many storms, and this is one of the strongest,” said 45-year-old Nguyen Tuan Vinh.
Strong winds killed eight people and injured seven others in Ninh Binh province, the Vietnam News Agency reported.
One person died after being caught in floodwater in Hue city, and another was killed by a falling tree in Thanh Hoa province, the disaster management agency said.
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.
