600,000 evacuated as typhoon nears Vietnam

HANOI: More than 600,000 people were evacuated as super typhoon Haiyan bore down on Vietnam, authorities said Sunday, after the storm smashed through the Philippines leaving thousands feared dead and widespread devastation.
Residents of the Vietnamese capital Hanoi were braced for heavy rains and flooding, while tens of thousands of people in coastal areas were ordered to take shelter ahead of Haiyan’s expected landfall late Sunday.
“We have evacuated more than 174,000 households, which is equivalent to more than 600,000 people,” an official report by Vietnam’s flood and storm control department said.
The storm is now expected to strike late Sunday after changing course, the official Vietnam Television reported, prompting further mass evacuations of some 52,000 people in northern provinces by the coast.
“People must bring enough food and necessities for three days... those who do not move voluntarily will be forced,” online newspaper VNExpress report said, adding all boats have been ordered back to shore.
The Red Cross said Haiyan’s changed path meant the “the disaster area could be enlarged from nine provinces to as many as 15,” stretching the country’s resources.
“This is one of the challenges going ahead,” Michael Annear, Red Cross country representative, said, adding that heavy rain and flooding was likely to hit Hanoi.
Many of the capital’s residents were rushing to stock up on food and water before the storm hit.
“I ran to the supermarket to buy instant noodles, vegetables and meat for the family,” said office worker Nguyen Thi Uyen, 33.
“There was not much left on the shelves...people are worried, buying food to last them for a few days.” All schools will be shut in the capital Monday and extra police will redirect traffic in flood-prone areas.
In the northern port city of Hai Phong, which is also expecting heavy rain and flooding, residents said they were struggling to prepare.
“The city only warned us about the typhoon very late... they were too slow in advising people to prepare,” Nguyen Hung Nam, 70, said.
Many of the estimated 200,000 people evacuated in four south-central provinces initially thought to be in the storm’s path have been allowed to go back to their homes, according to the government’s website. Haiyan “is quickly moving north and northwest, traveling at a speed of up to 35 km (22 miles) per hour,” the country’s weather bureau said.
The weather system — one of the most intense typhoons on record when it tore into the Philippines — has weakened over the South China Sea and is expected to hit Vietnam as a Category 1 storm, meteorologists added.
Its epicenter is expected to make landfall late Sunday, with winds of about 74 km (45 miles) an hour.
At least four people were reportedly killed while preparing to escape the typhoon, disaster officials said.