Vietnam’s death toll from Typhoon Bualoi rose to 19 with another 21 people still missing, the government said on Tuesday (September 30, 2025), making it the most devastating storm to hit the country this year as heavy rains caused severe flooding in Hanoi and across northern provinces.

Bualoi made landfall on Monday in northern central Vietnam, bringing huge sea swells, strong winds and downpours. Last week, the typhoon had killed at least 10 people in the Philippines.

The government said 88 people had also been injured, more than 100,000 houses were damaged, mostly in Nghe An and Ha Tinh provinces, and more than 10,000 hectares of rice and crops had been inundated.

Rainfall in several parts of Vietnam had exceeded 300 millimetres over the past 24 hours, the national weather agency said as it warned of a risk of landslides and flash flooding.

Hanoi flooded

In the capital Hanoi, streets were heavily flooded as persistent downpours were accompanied by thunder and lightning, paralysing traffic in many downtown areas.

“It doesn’t rain, it pours,” said 49-year-old Hanoi resident Hoang Quoc Uy.

“Water is flowing into my living room… I’ve never seen anything like this before.”

As of Tuesday, several villages in northern central Vietnam remained flooded with no traffic access or power, state media reported.

Floodwaters rose to close to the roof level of houses in several villages in Nghe An province, according to footage on state broadcaster VTV.

“This is my house, the roof above had been blown away by the typhoon wind and it is now half a metre deep in flood water,” 56-year-old Nghe An resident Ngo Thi Loan told Reuters.

“All of my belongings have been damaged, all gone,” Loan said.

With a long coastline facing the South China Sea, Vietnam is prone to typhoons that often also bring heavy rains that cause severe flooding.

Heavy rain and strong winds from the former Typhoon Bualoi flooded roads, knocked off roofs and caused at least nine deaths in central Vietnam before it weakened to a storm that moved on Monday (September 29, 2025) into Laos, state media reported.

The storm tore through communities, damaging houses, schools and power poles, sweeping away temporary bridges and flooding roads and low-water crossings across several provinces. Flooding in cities submerged vehicles, and many highland communities were cut off.

State media said rescue teams were searching for 17 missing fishermen.

Forecasters in Vietnam said that at 10 a.m. on Monday, the storm’s centre was over land near the border of Nghe An province and Laos, with winds of 74 kph (46 mph). They said it would push deep into central Laos.

Vietnamese authorities grounded fishing boats and suspended operations at four coastal airports. Six of the deaths occurred in the scenic province of Ninh Binh, where strong winds collapsed houses.

A local official in Thanh Hoa province, Nguyen Ngoc Hung, died when a tree fell on him as he returned home after a night of storm preparations, reports said. One person was killed after being swept away by floodwaters in Hue city. Another fatality was reported in Danang.

In Quang Tri province, strong winds broke the ropes anchoring a fishing boat taking shelter, sending nine crew members and the vessel adrift. Four managed to swim ashore. In Gia Lai province, families reported losing contact with eight fishermen on a fishing trip.

State media said more than 347,000 households lost power before the typhoon made landfall just after midnight on Sunday. Strong gusts ripped corrugated iron roofs from homes along highways and toppled concrete pillars.

In Phong Nha, known for some of the world’s largest caves, residents described “terrible gusts” of wind and pounding rain.

“No one dares to go out,” said Le Hang, a local resident, to state media VNExpress.

Vietnam evacuated thousands from central and northern provinces as the storm approached faster than expected. It came ashore in the northern coastal province of Ha Tinh around 12:30 a.m., bringing winds of up to 133 kph (83 mph), storm surges of more than a meter (3.2 feet) and heavy rain.

Bualoi had already caused at least 20 deaths in the Philippines since Friday, mainly from drownings and falling trees, and knocked out power in several towns and cities, officials said. It forced about 23,000 families to evacuate to more than 1,400 emergency shelters.

This was the second major storm to threaten Asia in a week. Typhoon Ragasa, one of the strongest to hit in years, left at least 28 deaths in the northern Philippines and Taiwan before making landfall in China and dissipating Thursday over Vietnam.

Global warming is making storms like the July storm Wipha stronger and wetter, according to experts, since warmer oceans provide tropical storms with more fuel, driving more intense winds, heavier rainfall and shifting precipitation patterns across East Asia.

Vietnam plans to evacuate more than 2,50,000 residents from coastal areas on Sunday (September 27, 2025) 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 kilometres per hour and is expected to make landfall at 7:00 p.m. (1200 GMT), according to the meteorology agency.

Central Vietnam’s largest city, Danang, plans to evacuate more than 2,10,000 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 centres converted into temporary shelters, authorities said.

Nearly 1,17,000 military personnel have been mobilised. Four domestic airports were shut and all fishing boats in the typhoon’s path have been called back to harbour.

“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, said.

The typhoon is expected to pack winds of around 133 kph as it makes landfall on Sunday (September 28, 2025) evening, Vietnam’s National Centre 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, landslips, and coastal inundation,” State media quoted centre director Mai Van Khiem as saying.

Scientists warn that storms are becoming more powerful as the world warms due to the effects of human-driven climate change.

In Vietnam, more than 100 people were killed or missing from natural disasters in the first seven months of 2025, according to the agriculture ministry.

Vietnam suffered $3.3 billion in economic losses last September as a result of Typhoon Yagi, which swept across the country’s north and caused hundreds of fatalities.