Typhoon Kalmaegi kills 5 people in Vietnam as the Philippines prepares for a new storm

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DAK LAK, Vietnam (AP) — Typhoon Kalmaegi brought fierce winds and torrential rains to Vietnam on Friday, killing at least five people and leaving widespread damage across the country’s central provinces, days after the powerful storm battered the Philippines and left scores dead or missing.

As floodwaters receded, recovery work began in battered towns and industrial zones, with local authorities and residents clearing debris and repairing roofs across central Vietnam.

Five people were killed — three in Dak Lak and two in Gia Lai provinces — while three others remained missing in Quang Ngai, according to state media. Six people were injured. Fifty-two houses collapsed and nearly 2,600 others were damaged or had their roofs blown off, including more than 2,400 in Gia Lai alone. Power outages affected more than 1.6 million households.

In the Philippines, where Kalmaegi made landfall earlier this week, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. declared a state of national emergency on Thursday as the country braced for another potentially powerful storm, Typhoon Fung-wong, known locally as Uwan.

The weather bureau said Fung-wong could expand to an estimated 1,400 kilometers (870 miles) in diameter before making landfall late Sunday or early Monday in northern Aurora province, potentially affecting the densely populated capital region of Manila.

Kalmaegi left at least 188 people dead and 135 missing in the Philippines, according to the Office of Civil Defense, displacing more than half a million people. Nearly 450,000 were evacuated to shelters, and over 318,000 remained there as of Thursday.

In the hard-hit central Philippine province of Cebu, 139 people died, mostly in floodings. Villagers mourned their dead on Friday, including at a basketball gym turned funeral parlor where relatives wept before a row of white coffins bedecked with flowers and small portraits of the deceased.

Jimmy Abatayo, who lost his wife and nine close relatives to the typhoon, was overwhelmed with sorrow and guilt as he ran his palm over his wife’s casket.

“I was able to swim. I told my family to swim, you will be saved, just swim, be brave and keep swimming,” said Abatayo, 53, pausing and then breaking into tears. “They did not hear what I said because I would never see them again.”

Many areas in Vietnam reported uprooted trees, damaged power lines and flattened buildings as Kalmaegi weakened into a tropical storm and moved into Cambodia on Friday.

Factories lost their roofs and equipment was damaged because of flooding in Binh Dinh province. In hard-hit Quy Nhon, residents woke up to find corrugated metal roofs and household items scattered along the streets.

As the skies cleared and sunlight broke through on Friday morning, residents in Dak Lak province stepped out to assess the wreckage left behind.

Streets were littered with fallen branches and twisted sheets of metal, and muddy water still pooled in low-lying areas where the river had surged to record heights overnight. Shopkeepers dragged out waterlogged goods to dry in the sun, while families swept mud from their doorsteps and patched together missing roof tiles.

Kalmaegi struck Vietnam as the country’s central region was still reeling from floods caused by record-breaking rains. Authorities said more than 537,000 people were evacuated, many by boat, as floodwaters rose and landslides loomed. The storm was forecast to dump up to 24 inches (600 millimeters) of rain in some areas before moving into Laos and northeast Thailand later Friday.

Three fishermen were reported missing Thursday after their boat was swept away by strong waves near Ly Son Island off Quang Ngai province. Search efforts were later suspended due to worsening weather, state media said.

The Philippines experiences about 20 typhoons and storms each year and is among the world’s most disaster-prone countries.

Vietnam, which is hit by around a dozen storms annually, has endured a relentless series this year. Typhoon Ragasa dumped torrential rain in late September, followed by Typhoon Bualoi and Typhoon Matmo, which together left more than 85 people dead or missing and caused an estimated $1.36 billion in damage.

Scientists warn that a warming climate is intensifying storms and rainfall across Southeast Asia, making floods and typhoons increasingly destructive and frequent.

Kristen Corbosiero, a professor of atmospheric and environmental sciences at the University at Albany, said a normal year has 23 named storms by this time, but Kalmaegi and Fung-Wong are the 26th and 27th named storms. Kalmaegi is the fourth strongest typhoon this season, she said.

“If you look at the climatology for the Philippines and for Vietnam, it’s almost the entire year that they can get them because the warm waters that fuel the storm just are there,” Corbosiero said.

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Associated Press writers Jim Gomez and Joeal Calupitan in Manila, Philippines, and Seth Borenstein in Washington contributed to this report.