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Typhoon Molave: Vietnam villagers flee ahead of ‘worst storm in 20 years’

  • The typhoon struck the Philippines on Sunday, inundating low-lying villages, destroying hundreds of houses and claiming at least nine lives
  • Molave is expected to reach Vietnam, which is still reeling from the impact of recent deadly flooding, on Wednesday

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Residents leave for evacuation centres in central Vietnam’s Quang Nam province on October 27, 2020. Photo: AFP
Reutersin Hanoi

Vietnam was rushing to ensure more than half a million people were out of harm’s way on Tuesday, ahead of the arrival of a powerful typhoon set to dump more heavy rain on a central region devastated by weeks of intense weather.

Hundreds of flights were cancelled and schools closed in affected areas as Typhoon Molave approached over the South China Sea, packing wind speed of up to 165 kilometres per hour and expected to make landfall on Wednesday.

It is forecast to land south of Danang around 1pm, packing maximum sustained winds of 140kph, according to the Hong Kong Observatory.

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More than 100 killed, 22 missing in Vietnam’s floods

More than 100 killed, 22 missing in Vietnam’s floods

“We have very grave fears for the safety of millions of people, as so many have already lost livelihoods and their homes in huge floods,” said Nguyen Hai Anh, head of the Vietnam Red Cross.

“Now a major typhoon is bearing down on central Vietnam, giving no one time to recover,” added Anh, who called the typhoon the latest in the “most damaging series of storms we’ve ever seen”.

Molave will be the fourth storm to hit the Southeast Asian country this month, deepening a crisis in its central region that has seen 130 people killed in floods and landslides and many still missing.

Floodwater has inundated 178,000 homes, said the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

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