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- ‘This is a fast-moving storm with very strong intensity and a wide area of impact’
HANOI: Vietnam plans to evacuate more than 250,000 residents from coastal areas on Sunday ahead of the arrival of Typhoon Bualoi, which is expected to lash the country’s steel-producing central belt.
The storm — the 10th to affect Vietnam this year — is currently at sea generating winds of 130 kilometers per hour and is expected to make landfall at 7:00 p.m. (12:00 GMT), according to the meteorology agency.
Central Vietnam’s largest city Danang plans evacuate more than 210,000 residents, state media reported, while more than 32,000 residents of Hue living near coastal areas are also set to be moved to safer areas.
More than 15,000 residents in Ha Tinh — known as a key steel production hub — have been slated for evacuation to schools and medical centers converted into temporary shelters, authorities said.
Nearly 117,000 military personnel have been mobilized. Four domestic airports were shut and all fishing boats in the typhoon’s path have been called back to harbor.
“I feel a bit anxious but still hopeful that everything will be fine in the aftermath. We were all safe after the recent typhoon Kajiki. I hope this one will be the same or less severe,” Nguyen Cuong, 29, a resident of Ha Tinh City, told AFP.
The typhoon is expected to pack winds of around 133 kph as it makes landfall on Sunday evening, Vietnam’s National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting said on its website.
“This is a fast-moving storm with very strong intensity and a wide area of impact, capable of causing a combination of various types of natural disasters such as strong winds, heavy rain, floods, landslides, and coastal inundation,” state media quoted center director Mai Van Khiem.