Typhoon Yagi still deadly as it leaves China for Vietnam

Workers remove fallen tree branches Saturday along a street in Haikou, on China’s island province of Hainan, in the aftermath of landfall there by Typhoon Yagi. Yang Guanyu/Xinhua

HANOI, Vietnam — Vietnamese authorities say Typhoon Yagi has killed at least four people and injured 78 others after making landfall Saturday afternoon in the north of the country.

Yagi, described by Vietnamese meteorological officials as “one of the most powerful typhoons in the region over the past decade,” made its way to the Southeast Asian country after it left three people dead and nearly a hundred others injured in the Chinese province of Hainan.

The storm struck Vietnam’s coastal provinces of Quang Ninh and Haiphong with wind speeds of up to 92 mph, state media reported. Before landing, winds felled a tree, killing a woman in the capital, Hanoi, local media said Saturday.

Quang Ninh is home to the UNESCO World Heritage site Ha Long Bay, known for its towering limestone islands. Hundreds of cruises were canceled at the popular site before the typhoon landed, according to local media. Haiphong is an industrial hub, home to large factories like EV maker VinFast and Apple supplier Pegatron.

The typhoon also has triggered power outages in large parts of Quang Ninh and Thai Binh provinces.

Earlier, the government issued several alerts, and those vulnerable to floods or landslides were evacuated. Four airports were shuttered, including in Hanoi and Haiphong.

Authorities pruned trees in Hanoi to make them less susceptible to falling, but wind and rain knocked over several along with billboards in northern cities.

Local media reported that many moored boats were swept out to sea.

“I am going to stay inside and try and stay safe with my family,” said Bao Ngoc Cao, 24, a businesswoman from Hanoi. She added that the last time a typhoon this strong hit Vietnam was in 2013 and that storms usually weaken before reaching the capital. “But we still need to be prepared.”

On Friday afternoon, Yagi struck the Chinese city of Wenchang in Hainan province with wind speeds of up to about 152 mph near its center.

Authorities said the typhoon left three people dead and nearly a hundred others injured in the province. It has affected over 1.2 million people as of noon Saturday, according to the local Global Times newspaper.

Some 420,000 Hainan residents were relocated before the typhoon’s landfall. Another half a million people in Guangdong province were evacuated before Yagi made a second landfall in the province’s Xuwen County on Friday night.

Benjamin Horton, director of the Earth Observatory of Singapore, said storms like Yagi are “getting stronger due to climate change, primarily because warmer ocean waters provide more energy to fuel the storms, leading to increased wind speeds and heavier rainfall.”

Climate change is also potentially affecting storm movement patterns, he added, with studies by the observatory showing shifts in the latitude where storms peak in their intensity, exposing newer areas to the impacts of storms.