On Thursday, a troubling incident unfolded off the coast of Ly Son, a Vietnamese island in Quang Ngai province, as three fishermen went missing after their vessel succumbed to the force of powerful ocean waves. A search effort was promptly initiated to locate the missing individuals; however, the deteriorating weather conditions forced authorities to suspend the operation, according to reports from state media.

As the region braced for further impact, more than 537,000 residents were evacuated to safety, many being transported by boat, as rising floodwaters and the threat of landslides posed significant dangers. This mass evacuation underscores the severe nature of the threat posed by the extreme weather conditions.

The central provinces of Vietnam found themselves grappling with the aftermath of relentless flooding, a consequence of record-setting rainfall. Adding to their woes, the storm named Kalmaegi was projected to unleash over 600 millimeters of rainfall in certain areas, exacerbating the already dire situation.

Remarkably potent for a November storm in the region, Kalmaegi advanced with sustained winds clocking at approximately 183 km/h, while gusts soared to 220 km/h as it churned over the South China Sea, making its way towards Vietnam.

The coastal areas bore the brunt of the storm’s fury, with cities like Danang experiencing waves as high as three meters crashing ashore. Meanwhile, in Dak Lak province, fierce winds uprooted trees, and residents in the coastal city of Quy Nhon endured prolonged power outages, leaving many homes in the dark for hours.

The country’s financial hub, Ho Chi Minh City, faced a heightened risk of severe floods. High tides were expected on the Saigon River, and authorities warned up to 100 millimetres of expected rainfall could inundate low-lying areas.

State of emergency in the Philippines

One of the mourners was Krizza Espra, who went Thursday to a mortuary where the bodies of her husband and three children were being held.

They were killed when the roof of their home collapsed in the town of Liloan in the Cebu district of the Philippines.

She said four others in her family — including her mother and aunt — remain missing.

“I hope someone can help speed up the search for their bodies before (they) decompose, we hope we can still recognise them,” she said.

The typhoon displaced more than 560,000 villagers in the Philippines, including nearly 450,000 who were evacuated to emergency shelters, the Office of Civil Defence said.

Marcos’ “state of national calamity” declaration allows the government to disburse emergency funds faster and prevent food hoarding and overpricing. Disaster-response officials warned that another tropical cyclone from the Pacific could strengthen into a super typhoon and batter the northern Philippines early next week.

Among the deaths attributed to Kalmaegi were six people who were killed when a Philippine air force helicopter crashed in the southern province of Agusan del Sur on Tuesday. The crew was on its way to provide humanitarian help to provinces battered by the typhoon, the military said. It did not give the cause of the crash.

Kalmaegi dumped about one-and-a-half months’ worth of rainfall in just a day on Tuesday in metropolitan Cebu, state forecaster Benison Estareja said.

It set off flash floods and caused a river and other waterways to swell in Cebu city and outlying towns. The resulting flooding engulfed residential communities, forcing residents to climb onto their roofs, where they desperately pleaded to be rescued as floodwaters quickly rose, provincial officials said.

Rampaging floodwaters submerged or swept away scores of vehicles in Cebu’s residential enclaves, in shocking scenes that were caught on camera by residents stranded on roofs.

The Philippines is battered by about 20 typhoons and storms each year. The country also is often hit by earthquakes and has more than a dozen active volcanoes, making it one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries.

Vietnam, which gets about a dozen typhoons and storms a year, has been pummelled by a relentless series this year, leaving little time to recover between disasters.

Typhoon Ragasa dumped torrential rain in late September, then Typhoon Bualoi slammed the central coast and Typhoon Matmo resulted in flooding in the north. Together, the three storms left more than 85 people dead or missing in two weeks, and caused an estimated $US1.36 billion ($2.16 billion) in damage.

Vietnam is among the world’s most flood-prone countries, with nearly half its population living in high-risk areas. Scientists warn that a warming climate is intensifying storms and rainfall across Southeast Asia, making floods like this year’s increasingly destructive and frequent.