HANOI: Typhoon Kal­maegi made landfall on Thursday in Vietnam’s already storm-battered central belt, where thousands have been evacuated from areas in the path of one of the world’s deadliest cyclones this year.

Kalmaegi cut a path of destruction through the Philippines this week, killing at least 140 people and leaving 127 missing after unleashing devastating floods. It crashed into central Vietnam on Thursday, packing sustained winds of up to 149 kilometres per hour with much faster gusts, the environment ministry said.

“The wind is so so str­ong, nothing can resist,” Vu Van Hao, said as he surveyed the shards of windows shattered by the storm in the lobby of a hotel in Gia Lai province.

“We here have never experienced such strong wind like this. It’s a natural disaster, what can we do?” The typhoon hit as central Vietnam was still reeling from more than a week of flooding and record rains that killed at least 47 people and submerged centuries-old historic sites.

“This is a huge typhoon with terrible devastating capacity,” said Pham Anh Tuan, a top provincial official in Gia Lai, where state media said over 7,000 people had been evacuated as of Wednesday night.

In Gia Lai’s coastal area of Quy Nhon Nam, a reporter saw officials knocking doors warning people to flee before the typhoon hit. Elderly women and children were among dozens of people sheltering on Thursday at a school, carrying mats, pillows and blankets.

“I am not young anymore and I don’t want to risk my life,” said Tran Thi Nghia, 56, who left her one-storey home at the urging of authorities.

Vietnam is in one of the most active tropical cyc­lone regions on Earth and is typically affected by 10 typhoons or storms a year, but Kalmaegi is set to be the 13th of 2025.

Published in Dawn, November 7th, 2025