Vietnam's northern provinces closed airports and evacuated residents as Typhoon Yagi is set to make landfall Saturday afternoon after killing two people and injuring nearly a hundred others in the Chinese province of Hainan.
Vietnamese meteorological authorities described Yagi as "one of the most powerful typhoons in the region over the past decade." It has wind speeds between 150-166 kilometers per hour (93-103 miles per hour), meaning it is at a level 14 or a strong typhoon, state media cited Nguyen Van Huong from Vietnam's National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting.
Yagi is expected to land near the coastal province of Quang Ninh, home to the UNESCO World Heritage site Ha Long Bay, known for its many towering limestone islands, where state media said hundreds of cruises had already been canceled.
The government has issued several alerts and those vulnerable to floods or landslides were evacuated. Four airports were shuttered, including in the capital, Hanoi, and the port city of Haiphong which is home to large factories, including EV maker VinFast and Apple suppliers Pegatron.
Authorities had pruned trees in Hanoi to make them less susceptible to falling, but wind and rain knocked over several along with billboards in northern cities ahead of the typhoon landing.
