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Hanoi. Heavy rain lashed parts of Southeast Asia on Tuesday after a tropical storm made landfall in Vietnam. The Vietnamese capital also received heavy rains, which flooded streets, toppled billboards and knocked down power poles and trees. Vietnam’s state media reported that Typhoon Kajiki has now formed a tropical depression over Laos.

The Vietnam government has planned to evacuate about 600,000 people in Thanh Hoa, Quang Tri, Hue and Danang provinces due to heavy rains. A large number of houses in these areas are in high-risk areas due to the impact of the storm. This is why the government is evacuating people from the affected areas. The government has deployed more than 16,500 soldiers and 107,000 paramilitary personnel for this work. After flights were stopped on Monday, two airports in Thanh Hoa and Quang Binh provinces remained closed on Tuesday as well. 

Typhoon Kajiki brought winds of up to 117 kilometres per hour (73 mph) to Vietnam, the national weather agency said. Torrential rain triggered flash flood and landslide warnings. The storm ripped off billboards and roofs of several buildings, uprooted trees and knocked down power poles. The storm hit Vietnam on Monday afternoon, causing flooding in coastal provinces.

Heavy rain fell overnight in Thanh Hoa and Ha Tinh provinces in central Vietnam. Streets in the capital, Hanoi, were also flooded by heavy rain. Typhoon Kajiki also brought strong winds and rain to China’s southern Hainan island. Scientists warned in a study published last year that Southeast Asia’s cyclones would form closer to land, strengthen faster and last longer as a result of warming oceans caused by climate change, increasing the risk to cities.