Typhoon Nari slammed into central Vietnam early on Tuesday, killing five people, ripping roofs of homes and damaging roads, state media reported. The situation was however slowly returning back to the normal following the weakening of the typhoon into a tropical storm on late Tuesday.
HANOI – Typhoon Nari, which claimed 13 lives in the Philippines over the weekend, tore through the country’s central region – from the tourist town of Hue to Quang Ngai to the south, Vietnam Television reported. Trees were uprooted and thousands of houses had their roofs ripped off while many roads became impassable due to torrential rain, footage showed.
According to Reuters, AFP and VNA, schools were closed on Tuesday in Danang city, which bore the brunt of the typhoon when it hit packing winds of up to 133 kilometers an hour, state media said. More than 122,000 people had been moved to safe ground in several provinces, including Quang Nam and Danang city, by late Monday before the typhoon arrived, the official Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper reported. According to reports from the Vietnam News Agency, large parts of the 1.2 million metropolis has been submerged in water and many restaurants on Truong Sa and Hoang Sa streets have been knocked down.
In the ancient town of Hoi An, Quang Nam province, heavy rains and gusts have been raging there since Monday night, flooding the town and devastating many houses and roads in coastal areas.
Nari later hit the Vietnamese coast with wind speeds of up to 102 kmh (63 mph).
Soldiers were sent to help people reinforce their homes and guide ships to shelter in Danang, a famous tourist destination, state-run Voice of Vietnam radio said.
More than 2,000 passengers were stranded when national carrier Vietnam Airlines cancelled up to 22 flights between Monday and Tuesday and planned to delay another eight on Tuesday, the airline said in a statement.
Nari was moving west at about 15 kmh (10 mph) and weakened into a tropical depression later on Tuesday, the national weather station said. On Thursday, the storm is expected to arrive in southeastern Thailand, with winds of less than 39 kph. It will continue to weaken and then dissipate.
Luc Citrinot a French national is a freelance journalist and consultant in tourism and air transport with over 20 years experience. Based in Paris and Bangkok, he works for various travel and air transport trade publications in Europe and Asia.
