DEVASTATING WAVES crashed into Asian ports and towns yesterday, as efforts to find a bus with 19 people swept away on the Ho Chi Minh highway by floodwaters were hampered by raging currents in central Vietnam. The region’s overall death toll from flooding and heavy rains reached 41.
Meanwhile, Typhoon “Megi”, which led to the deaths of at least 10 people in the Philippines, was last night heading for southern China, where authorities have evacuated 140,000 people from exposed coastal areas of Guangdong ahead of the typhoon.
Some environmentalists say tropical cyclones are getting more intense and wind speeds rising as the surface temperature of southern tropical oceans increases.
The tempests draw strength from warm water and rage into China from the South China Sea regularly in the months between May and September. Once they make landfall they tend to lose power.
But this year the typhoons are happening later.
Among the survivors on the bus in Vietnam were Luong Huu Thanh (32) and his two-year-old daughter. The father swam for two hours in the strong currents, clinging to his child before he managed to swim to safety.
Eighteen other people on the bus swam to safety or were rescued after clinging to trees and power poles.
The vehicle was removed from the main highway while travelling from the central highland province of Dak Nong to the northern province of Nam Dinh.
Earlier this month central Vietnam was hit by severe flooding that killed 66 people.
While Vietnam is fearful of the effects of the flooding, the wider impact of the typhoon is causing widespread panic.
Television footage from across the region showed markets, houses and roads inundated by water as unprecedented rain swallowed farmland and townland alike.
“Megi”, meaning “catfish” in Korean, entered the South China Sea 850 kilometres east of Zhuhai in Guangdong, and was heading west northwest at a speed of 15km per hour, local authorities reported.
Although it was too early to accurately tell where and when Megi will make landfall, authorities warned that central and western parts of Guangdong Province were most vulnerable.
In the Philippines, president Benigno Aquino said that although the typhoon caused significant damage, loss of life was minimal because of protective preparations.
In China, the disaster relief machine kicked in, and the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the State Disaster Relief Commission issued urgent notices to civil affairs provinces along China’s southern coast, including Hainan, Guangdong, Guangxi and Fujian, to prepare for rescue and relief operations.
On a separate note, state media reported that the Vietnamese government will discuss with China the return of nine Vietnamese fishermen still stuck on the disputed Paracel islands in the South China Sea once the typhoon is over.
The fishermen had been detained by China but were later released. They were taken back to the islands last Saturday after a Chinese patrol boat rescued them amid stormy seas. The islands are near the path of Typhoon Megi.