Vietnam’s record deluge has claimed 40 lives. After a week of relentless, torrential rain, the death toll has soared, even as another powerful storm bears down on the shattered region.
Central Vietnam is submerged. The floods have burst riverbanks, transformed streets into canals, and drowned historic sites. The downpour was so extreme it shattered national records, dropping an unbelievable 1.7 meters (5.5 feet) in a single day.
The fatalities are confirmed across provinces like Hue and Da Nang, and the grim count is not final: six people are still missing.
The onslaught of extreme weather is set to continue, with Typhoon Kalmaegi forecast to make landfall in the early hours of Friday morning, according to the national weather bureau.
Vietnam is prone to heavy rains between June and September, but scientific evidence has identified a pattern of human-driven climate change making extreme weather more frequent and destructive.
Ten typhoons or tropical storms usually affect Vietnam, directly or offshore, in a given year, but Typhoon Kalmaegi is set to be the 13th of 2025.
A new storm barrels toward Vietnam. Already, the typhoon has killed two in the Philippines and displaced hundreds of thousands. By Thursday, it is forecast to slam Vietnam’s coast with devastating 166 \text{ km/h} (100 mph) winds.
The region it targets is already broken: thousands of homes remain submerged, and crucial roads are blocked by landslides. The past week’s floods destroyed 10,000 hectares of crops and wiped out over 68,000 head of cattle.
