Devastating Path of Typhoon Kalmaegi: Impact on Vietnam and the Philippines' Tragic Toll

Share and Follow

Typhoon Kalmaegi churned across Vietnam on Friday, claiming five more lives after its devastating passage through the Philippines where the death toll rose to 188.

Kalmaegi unleashed record rainfall and flooding in the central Philippines this week — sweeping away cars, trucks and shipping containers before lashing Vietnam late Thursday.

“The roof of my house was just blown away,” said Nguyen Van Tam, a 42-year-old fisherman in Vietnam’s Gia Lai province, where the storm made landfall packing sustained winds of up to 149 kilometres (92 miles) per hour, according to the environment ministry.

“We were all safe, (but) the typhoon was really terrible, so many trees fallen,” he said, adding that his boat had survived intact.

Vietnamese authorities are still in the process of evaluating the damage from the latest typhoon as of Friday. According to the environment ministry, the storm has tragically resulted in the deaths of five individuals and has caused 57 homes to collapse in Gia Lai and the adjacent Dak Lak region.

Nearly 3,000 more had their roofs blown off or were damaged, it said, while 11 boats or ships sank.

In the streets along Gia Lai’s Quy Nhon beach, rescue workers and soldiers working with residents to clear uprooted trees, remove debris and collect sheet-metal roofs blown away in the night.

“This was a very big typhoon that hit us,” Tran Ngo An, 64, told Agence France-Presse. “This was the second time I witnessed such a typhoon. The other one was 10 years ago or so, but not that strong as compared to this.”

The state power company said 1.6 million clients lost electricity as the typhoon smashed the central coast, but service to a third of them had been restored by Friday morning.

Situated in one of the most cyclone-prone areas globally, Vietnam typically faces the impact of about 10 typhoons or storms annually. However, 2025 has proven exceptionally turbulent, with Kalmaegi marking the 13th storm of the year to hit the nation.

Scientists warn that storms are becoming more powerful due to human-driven climate change. Warmer oceans allow typhoons to strengthen rapidly, and a warmer atmosphere holds more moisture, meaning heavier rainfall.

Fast-moving Kalmaegi had already swept northwest toward Laos by morning with significantly weakened winds, but heavy rain was still forecast for much of Vietnam’s central coast, the national weather bureau said.

The trajectory of Kalmaegi suggests that Thailand is next in line for its impact. On Friday, Thai authorities issued warnings about the impending threat of heavy rainfall and potential flooding. These adverse weather conditions are expected to begin in the northeastern part of the country and gradually spread throughout other regions.

This typhoon’s arrival in central Vietnam comes at a particularly challenging time, as the area is still recovering from over a week of severe flooding and unprecedented rainfall that claimed at least 47 lives. The deluge also submerged historic sites that have stood for centuries, adding cultural loss to the toll of human and property devastation.

Kalmaegi had initially battered the islands of Cebu and Negros in the Philippines before swooping back out to sea.

Floodwaters described as unprecedented rushed through the hardest hit Cebu province’s towns and cities, where the hunt for missing people continues.

Philippines authorities raised the death toll to 188, with 135 still missing.

The typhoon hit central Vietnam as it was still reeling from more than a week of flooding and record rains that killed at least 47 people and submerged centuries-old historic sites.

The heavy rains starting in late October had drenched the former imperial capital Hue and the ancient town of Hoi An, both UNESCO-listed sites, turning streets into canals and flooding tens of thousands of homes.

Up to 1.7 metres fell over one 24-hour period in a downpour breaking national records.

With more than 3,200 kilometres of coastline and a network of 2,300 rivers, Vietnam faces a high risk of flooding.

Before Kalmaegi, natural disasters had already left 279 people dead or missing this year and caused more than $2 billion in damage, according to Vietnam’s national statistics office.