© 2024 Hawaiʻi Public Radio
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Asia Minute: Typhoon Noru sweeps across Southeast Asia

Residents give out free food as they wade through a flooded street in their village from Typhoon Noru in San Miguel town, Bulacan province, Philippines, Monday, Sept. 26, 2022. Typhoon Noru blew out of the northern Philippines on Monday, leaving some people dead, causing floods and power outages and forcing officials to suspend classes and government work in the capital and outlying provinces. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
Aaron Favila/AP
/
AP
Residents give out free food as they wade through a flooded street in their village from Typhoon Noru in San Miguel town, Bulacan province, Philippines, Monday, Sept. 26, 2022. Typhoon Noru blew out of the northern Philippines on Monday, leaving some people dead, causing floods and power outages and forcing officials to suspend classes and government work in the capital and outlying provinces. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

While Hurricane Ian has continued to pound Florida and move up the East Coast, another storm has battered parts of the Asia-Pacific.

Typhoon Noru cut a path of destruction over a swath of Southeast Asia in recent days.

The storm killed at least 10 people after slamming into the Philippines on Sunday night.

Flooding swept across farmland in the northern part of the country, wiping out crops — mostly rice.

Power lines were downed — and it was a similar story as the storm made its way across the South China Sea and onto the coast of Vietnam early Wednesday morning.

Government officials say more than 400,000 people were evacuated from their homes. More than half a million households lost power.

Crops were also hit in Vietnam, including in coffee-growing regions.

As the day wore on, the storm started to lose some of its power as it moved over southern Laos, weakening to a tropical storm.

By Wednesday night, the storm lost more speed, declining to a tropical depression as it moved across northern Thailand.

But trouble remains across the region — both with flooding — and with landslides in areas where the ground has been saturated.

Weather forecasters say Vietnam’s long coastline makes it vulnerable to powerful storms and flooding — a vulnerability shared by the Philippines.

So far this year, the Philippines has experienced a dozen tropical cyclones — four in the month of September alone.

Bill Dorman has been the news director at Hawaiʻi Public Radio since 2011.
Related Stories