As Typhoon Nari swept through SE Asia this week, it left a path of death and destruction from the Philippines to Laos. Thousands of homes were destroyed, dozens of lives were lost and it may have even been responsible for yesterday's fatal plane crash in Loas.
After wreaking havoc on the Philippines where it killed 13 people, Typhoon Nari made landfall Tuesday morning in central Vietnam, causing massive flooding, power outages and destruction of property which has been estimated at $71 million so far. Even before Nari had made landfall, its preceding 102 kph winds knocked out power to all of Da Nang.
Vietnamese officials evacuated up to 180,000 residents in threatened areas including popular hotels in the tourist hotspot, Hoi An. Torrential rains inundated the country's central costal region, uprooting trees, blowing roofs off houses and knocking over electrical lines. Flood waters hit 373 mm in Quang Ngai province’s Ly Son Island, 246 mm in Nam Dong (Hue), and 220 mm in Tam Ky (Quang Nam).
Beyond flooded streets, Da Nang's airport was shut down, stranding over 2,000 passengers while rail service was suspended due to debris blocking the tracks.
Final figures are still coming in, but so far it's being reported that the death toll in Vietnam has reached 6 with 7 people still missing. 12,000 homes were destroyed in seven central provinces, many of which saw flood waters reach 2 meters.
The Weather Channel has suggested that the typhoon may have caused yesterday's Lao Airlines crash in which all 49 people died when the twin-engine turboprop crashed into the Mekong River. Meteorologist Chris Dolce said that the remnants of Typhoon Nari were drifting across Laos at the time.
And things are only going to get worse. According to a recent climate report from Vietnam's Institute of Meteorology, Hydrology and Environment, Vietnam will face increasingly harsh storms in the future due to global warming.
Tuoi Tre has a photo gallery of the typhoon which you can view here.
