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At least three people have died and 13 others have been injured after Typhoon Kajiki struck northern and central Vietnam on Monday, bringing devastating winds and torrential rains, Al Jazeera reported, citing Vietnamese authorities on Tuesday.
According to Al Jazeera, citing the Vietnamese government, the typhoon, which made landfall with wind speeds reaching 130 km/h, caused significant destruction, damaging nearly 7,000 homes, submerging over 28,000 hectares of rice fields, and uprooting around 18,000 trees. The storm also knocked down 331 power poles, triggering widespread blackouts in several provinces, including Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Thai Nguyen, and Phu Tho. As per Al Jazeera, citing local media, the scenes of flooding in the capital, Hanoi, are described as absolutely terrifying, where relentless rainfall has submerged streets, stalled vehicles, and disrupted traffic. The storm has since moved westward, into Laos, weakening into a tropical depression, but Vietnam's national weather agency warned of continued heavy rains, forecasting up to 150 mm of rain in six hours in some areas, with risks of flash floods and landslides remaining high, Al Jazeera reported. Ahead of the storm, authorities undertook large-scale evacuations, moving more than 44,000 people to safety across five provinces and recalling all fishing vessels to harbour. The military deployed over 346,000 personnel and more than 8,200 vehicles, including aircraft, to assist with relief efforts and respond to potential secondary disasters, Al Jazeera reported, citing Viet Nam News. Meanwhile, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) raised alarm over the repeated impact of severe storms on children in the region. In a statement, UNICEF Regional Director for East Asia and the Pacific, June Kunugi, noted that children in the region are facing climate hazards six times more frequently than previous generations. "With disasters striking so often, children and families barely have time to recover before their homes, schools, and sense of safety are disrupted again. Each new storm compounds the damage of the last, leaving children increasingly vulnerable," June Kunugi said, as quoted by Al Jazeera. According to the country's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, natural disasters in Vietnam have already claimed over 100 lives or left people missing in the first seven months of 2025, with economic losses exceeding USD 21 million. Last year, Typhoon Yagi caused an estimated USD 3.3 billion in damages and impacted more than six million children, Al Jazeera reported. UNICEF warned that Kajiki adds to the compounding effects of repeated climate shocks, which are increasingly putting children's health, education, and well-being at risk. (ANI)
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