Typhoon Kajiki Prompts Massive Evacuations Along Vietnam’s Coast

Vietnam has evacuated more than 500,000 residents as Typhoon Kajiki is expected to make landfall near the city of Vinh on Monday. Authorities suspended boat services and canceled flights as precautionary measures ahead of the storm.

Kajiki formed on 23 August in the South China Sea and rapidly strengthened while skirting just south of Hainan Island in southern China. It developed into a typhoon with sustained winds exceeding 100 mph (160 km/h), triggering the highest-level storm alerts in the region.

Meteorologists have warned of rainfall exceeding 300 mm (11.8 in) in parts of Hainan and central Vietnam, raising concerns of severe flooding and damage to farmland. By Tuesday, the system is expected to weaken as it pushes inland over Vietnam and into Laos, losing energy away from warm ocean waters.

Elsewhere, Hurricane Erin in the Atlantic has been downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone but continues to generate powerful swells. Monitoring stations recorded waves close to 50 ft (15 m), with coastal breakers around 20 ft, impacting the U.S. East Coast and stretching into the western Pacific. Though weakening northwest of Britain, Erin is forecast to drive large waves toward western Europe, with surf hotspots in Ireland and Portugal expecting waves above 20 ft on Tuesday.

In the South Atlantic, a deep low-pressure system produced record surf in Brazil, including the country’s largest wave ever surfed, reaching 48 ft. Meanwhile, a new tropical system, named Fernand, has formed in the Pacific, though cooler sea temperatures are expected to prevent it from intensifying or reaching land.