Foreign Office issues travel warning for Vietnam as tropical storm makes landfall
People across Asia have been battling blustery gales, landslides, flooding and heavy rain after Storm Wipha caused havoc across the region.
Vietnam is the latest country set to brace for the extreme weather after the tropical storm battered Hong Kong, southern parts of China and the Philippines.
The Foreign Office issued advice on Monday for UK nationals in Vietnam to ‘expect heavy rainfall, strong winds, flooding, and mudslides’.
The storm has been forecast to reach Ha Long Bay, Hanoi and Ninh Binh on Tuesday.
Five people have died in the Philippines and a further seven people are missing, according to the country’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, following widespread flooding.
Photos from the region show locals trawling through neck-deep water as roads remain flooded.
The impact of Storm Wipha was first felt in Hong Kong on Sunday, causing school cancellations, grounding flights and felled trees.
Images and videos on social media showed blustery gales, heavy rain and people being swept away by strong winds while others crawled against the gusts to battle the extreme weather.
Now, the storm is set to reach parts of southern China and Vietnam on Monday and in to Tuesday.
The Hong Kong Observatory issued a signal 10 for Storm Wipha – the forecaster’s highest cyclone warning.
Footage of the storm reaching southern China circulating online show black clouds rolling over the skyline as it makes landfall.
The heavy rain and wind have been forecasted for many of China’s coastal regions, including Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan and Fujian.
China’s national forecaster warned the storm is likely to spread across parts of south-east Asia, including Laos, central and northern Thailand, and Myanmar.
Parts of south Asia, such as Bangladesh and eastern India, are likely to face torrential rain over the coming days, it said.
The forecaster warned the extreme weather may impact infrastructure and transport, and there may be a risk of “secondary disasters such as flooding, landslides, mudslides, and urban waterlogging”.
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