Key points
- Over 325,00 residents ordered to evacuate
- Vinh city flooded, streets deserted
- Flights canceled, military mobilized for rescue
ISLAMABAD: Tens of thousands of residents were being evacuated from coastal Vietnam on Monday, as Typhoon Kajiki barrelled towards landfall, expected to lash the country’s central belt with gales of around 160 kmh.
🚨 TYPHOON #KAJIKI ALERT: EMERGENCY IN VIETNAM 🚨
Vietnam has ordered the evacuation of over 586,000 people from its central coast, including Thanh Hoa, Quảng Trị, Huế, and Đà Nẵng.
Airports in Thanh Hoa and Quảng Bình are closed; schools shut; boats banned from going to… pic.twitter.com/7oZrN87bhd
— Sarcasm Scoop (@sarcasm_scoop) August 25, 2025
The typhoon – the fifth to affect Vietnam this year – is currently at sea, roiling the Gulf of Tonkin with waves of up to 9.5 metres (31 feet), reports AFP.
More than 325,500 residents in five coastal provinces have been slated for evacuation to schools and public buildings converted into temporary shelters, authorities said.
The waterfront city of Vinh was deluged overnight, its streets largely deserted by morning with most shops and restaurants closed as residents and business-owners sandbagged their property entrances.
By dawn, nearly 30,000 people had been evacuated from the region, as 16,000 military personnel were mobilised.
Making landfall
Two domestic airports were shut and all fishing ships in the typhoon’s path have been called back to harbour.
“I have never heard of a typhoon of this scale coming to our city,” said 66-year-old Le Manh Tung at a Vinh indoor sports stadium, where evacuated families dined on a simple breakfast of sticky rice.
Vietnam said on Sunday it plans to evacuate more than 300,000 people and has cancelled over a dozen domestic flights as Typhoon Kajiki approaches ➡️ https://t.co/qgsU6nI3eN pic.twitter.com/CRMjH0NLwp
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) August 24, 2025
“I am a bit scared, but then we have to accept it because it’s nature – we cannot do anything,” he told the media, among only a few dozen people camped out at the evacuation site on Monday morning.
The typhoon is expected to make landfall around 1:00 pm (0600 GMT) with winds of 157 kilometres per hour (98 miles per hour), Vietnam’s National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting said.
Never this big
Scientists say human-caused climate change is driving more intense and unpredictable weather patterns that can make destructive floods and storms more likely, particularly in the tropics.
“Normally we get storms and flooding, but never this big,” said 52-year-old evacuee Nguyen Thi Nhan.
The typhoon’s power is due to dramatically dissipate after it makes landfall.
The Joint Typhoon Warning Center said conditions suggested “an approaching weakening trend as the system approaches the continental shelf of the Gulf of Tonkin, where there is less ocean heat content”.
Cancelling flights
Over a dozen domestic Vietnamese flights were cancelled on Sunday, while China’s tropical resort of Hainan evacuated around 20,000 residents as the typhoon passed its the south.
The island’s main city, Sanya, closed scenic areas and halted business operations.
In Vietnam, more than 100 people have been killed or left missing from natural disasters in the first seven months of 2025, according to the agriculture ministry.
Economic losses have been estimated at more than $21 million.
Typhoon Kajiki is a Category 2 storm with winds up to 165 km/h approaching central Vietnam.
Authorities have ordered mass evacuations as airports and schools close.
Heavy rain, flooding, storm surge and landslides are expected in Vietnam, Laos and northern Thailand. pic.twitter.com/LrdrsDdonj
— RenderNature (@RenderNature) August 25, 2025
Vietnam suffered $3.3 billion in economic losses last September as a result of Typhoon Yagi, which swept across the country’s north and caused hundreds of fatalities.
Earlier, the government warned that people in the projected path should not go outdoors after 2 pm on Sunday, adding that soldiers were standing by to help, according to ABC News.
