Typhoon Kalmaegi continued its destructive path on Friday, tearing through Vietnam and claiming five more lives, while the death toll in the Philippines surged to 188 after days of catastrophic flooding.
The storm unleashed unprecedented rainfall across the central Philippines earlier in the week, sweeping away vehicles, shipping containers, and homes before barreling into Vietnam late Thursday.
Nguyen Van Tam, a 42-year-old fisherman from Gia Lai province—where the storm made landfall—described the terrifying moment the typhoon struck with sustained winds reaching 149 km (92 miles) per hour, according to Vietnam’s environment ministry.
“The roof of my house was blown away,” he said. “We’re all safe, but the typhoon was really terrible. So many trees fell.” Despite the devastation on land, his fishing boat survived the storm.
Vietnamese authorities were still evaluating the full extent of the damage Friday morning. Initial reports confirmed five deaths, 57 homes destroyed in Gia Lai and nearby Dak Lak, nearly 3,000 homes damaged or stripped of their roofs, and 11 boats sunk.
Along Quy Nhon beach in Gia Lai, AFP journalists witnessed soldiers, rescue teams, and residents clearing toppled trees, broken debris, and metal roofing scattered across the streets.
“This was a very big typhoon,” said 64-year-old resident Tran Ngo An. “It’s only the second time I’ve witnessed something like this—the last was about 10 years ago, but this one was stronger.”
Vietnam’s state electricity provider reported that 1.6 million customers lost power as the storm battered the central coastline. By Friday morning, service had been restored to about one-third of affected households.
Vietnam, located in one of the world’s most active tropical cyclone corridors, usually faces around 10 storms each year.
Kalmaegi, however, is already the 13th typhoon of 2025, underscoring growing concerns about climate-driven extreme weather. Scientists warn that warming oceans and a hotter atmosphere are fueling more powerful storms and heavier rainfall.
By early Friday, the fast-moving Kalmaegi had weakened while sweeping northwest toward Laos, though forecasters still warned of heavy rain along Vietnam’s central coast.
The storm’s next target is Thailand, which issued warnings for severe rainfall and flooding expected to begin in the northeast and spread across the country in the coming days.
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