Typhoon Kalmaegi, known locally as Tino, has claimed 188 lives in the Philippines, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. The storm, which has since moved across the South China Sea and hit central Vietnam, caused widespread flooding, uprooted trees, and disrupted power lines. The typhoon has displaced over half a million people in the Visayas, Mindanao, and southern Luzon regions. Currently, 127 individuals are still unaccounted for.
In response to the calamity, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. declared a national state of emergency to hasten relief efforts and access emergency funds. As the storm system, carrying gale-force winds, moves towards Vietnam, the coastal provinces are bracing for heavy rain and high tides, which could lead to further inland flooding.
Typhoon Kalmaegi first made landfall in the Philippines on Tuesday, causing severe flooding in Cebu province and surrounding areas. By late Tuesday, local governments had initiated mass evacuations as water levels surged, sweeping cars along major roads. Search-and-rescue teams were dispatched on Wednesday to aid stranded residents, while ferry services and numerous domestic flights were canceled.
After regaining strength over open water, the storm hit Vietnam’s central coast on Thursday. Although forecasters predict the storm will weaken as it moves northwest towards Cambodia and Thailand, its extensive rain field could still trigger flash floods.
Philippine disaster officials reported that over 560,000 people have been displaced by the flooding, with nearly 450,000 in evacuation centers at the height of the disaster. Cebu province, a significant tourism and trade hub, suffered some of the heaviest losses after rivers overflowed their banks, destroying riverside homes and filling streets with debris. In a tragic incident, a Philippine Air Force helicopter carrying aid crashed during operations, killing all six crew members.
As the storm system moved west, Vietnam’s disaster prevention agency recorded peak winds of around 82 mph along sections of the central coast and warned of dangerous high tides in and around Ho Chi Minh City. Schools in several coastal towns have been closed, and pre-emptive evacuations have been announced in low-lying districts.
The arrival of Typhoon Kalmaegi has further strained communities in and around Cebu, which were still recovering from a September earthquake that damaged buildings and bridges. The Philippines, which experiences an average of 20 tropical cyclones each year, has endured a series of destructive storms since late summer.
In Vietnam, the landfall of Typhoon Kalmaegi followed a week of deadly flooding that had already claimed dozens of lives in central provinces. The region’s low-lying deltas and rapidly urbanizing coastal cities remain vulnerable to compound flooding when heavy rain coincides with high tides and overwhelms drainage systems.
Relief efforts are underway in the Philippines, with relief flights and naval transports delivering food packs, water, and generators to Cebu and neighboring islands. Engineers are working to clear landslides and reopen blocked highways to reach isolated communities. Meanwhile, in Vietnam, aviation officials have warned of possible delays at airports serving Da Nang and Quy Nhon, and river patrols are monitoring the Saigon River as rain bands sweep inland.