Deadliest typhoon in Asia this year targets Vietnam after leaving a trail of destruction in the Philippines

By Helen Regan, CNN

(CNN) — Typhoon Kalmaegi left a trail of death and devastation as it tore through the central Philippines this week, reducing entire neighborhoods to rubble and displacing tens of thousands of people.

The storm was the deadliest typhoon to hit the country this year, killing at least 114 people, with many more reported missing — most in Cebu province, a tourist hotspot.

Residents have begun the mammoth task of salvaging belongings and digging through the thick mud and debris of their destroyed homes, as the receding floodwaters expose widespread devastation.

But Typhoon Kalmaegi still poses a threat as it moves over the South China Sea toward Vietnam’s coast. The storm has strengthened into the equivalent of a Category 4 Hurricane and is expected to hit central Vietnam Thursday night — an area that hasn’t yet recovered from disastrous flash flooding and landslides caused by weeks of record rainfall and successive storms.

And on Kalmaegi’s heels, another tropical storm Fung-Wong – or Uwan locally – is expected to intensify and could become a dangerous Category 3 or 4 over the weekend, according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center, threatening more flooding and damage to the northern portions of the Philippines’ Luzon Island.

Here’s what to know:

Homes turned to rubble

The scale of the disaster in the hardest-hit Cebu province and surrounding areas has taken many residents and local officials by surprise.

Drone footage showed catastrophic flooding that turned streets into rivers, submerged homes and overturned cars as Typhoon Kalmaegi, known locally as Tino, dumped more than a month’s worth of rain in only 24 hours in some areas.

In Talisay city, rows of homes have been flattened and communities along the Mananga River buried in mud and debris. In Cebu city, cars swept away by floods have piled into streets and houses. And rescue workers could be seen wading through waist-deep water to free trapped residents from roofs and submerged homes.

“We don’t have any home anymore. We weren’t able to salvage anything from our house,” Mely Saberon, 52, from Talisay told Reuters news agency. “We didn’t expect the surge of rain and wind. We’ve experienced many typhoons, but this one was different. Our homes were gone.”

Another survivor in Cebu city said the floodwaters “quickly rushed in” and they had no time to gather belongings.

“I’ve been living here for almost 16 years and it was the first time I’ve experienced the flooding,” said Marlon Enriquez, 58.

Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Thursday declared a state of national calamity and promised to continued relief and response operations.

The typhoon came just over a month after a powerful magnitude 6.9 earthquake rocked Cebu, killing at least 74 people and displacing thousands.

Why was the storm so destructive and deadly?

The Philippines is no stranger to typhoons and Kalmaegi made landfall as the equivalent of a category 2 hurricane – the 20th named storm to impact the country this year, according to local officials.

Though it wasn’t the strongest storm of the year to hit the Philippines, it was slow moving and dumped huge volumes of water over highly populated cities and towns. Officials said most people died from drowning as the storm triggered flash floods and caused rivers to swell above their danger levels.

Nearby Leyte and northern parts of Mindanao, both populous islands in the center of the country, saw between 150 and 250 mm (6 to 10 inches) of rain in only 24 hours — well above the typical monthly rainfall for November.

On Cebu, the rugged terrain funnelled water straight into communities that lack sufficient drainage.

“Wind speed is often what the public focuses on and it is in fact how meteorologists categorize these systems, but water is almost always the #1 killer,” said CNN meteorologist Taylor Ward.

The impact of the storm was worsened by clogged waterways in an already flood-prone area, and an apparent lack of understanding of early warnings, Bernardo Rafaelito Alejandro IV, deputy administrator for the Philippines Office of Civil Defense told local media.

“We need to check how we issue our early warnings and translate it into actions,” he said

Alejandro also called for the building of better and bigger drainage systems and resilient infrastructure that can withstand the threats of more intense storms fueled by climate change.

“We need to rethink how we build our megacities and improve on our resiliency,” he added.

The Philippines is one of Asia’s most flood-prone countries but this year it has also been mired in a massive corruption scandal involving flood control projects that have brought thousands of protesters out onto the streets.

Dozens of legislators, senators and construction companies have been accused of receiving kickbacks with money that was supposed to go toward establishing thousands of flood control projects.

What next for Kalmaegi?

Typhoon Kalmaegi continues to strengthen as it moves toward central Vietnam as a powerful storm packing winds of 215 kph (130 mph), according to the JTWC.

Vietnam is preparing for damaging winds, flooding, heavy rain and storm surges in its central provinces including Danang, Quang Ngai and Dak Lak. Around 350,000 people were expected to be evacuated in Gia Lai province, according to Reuters.

The typhoon comes as the region struggles to recover from devastating flooding last week that inundated thousands of homes and submerged historical sites including the ancient town of Hoi An.

Usually packed with tourists wandering through the lantern-lit streets lined with iconic wooden houses and bustling markets, images showed the UNESCO World Heritage listed Hoi An submerged in water and mud after record rainfall.

“I have witnessed floods many times, and this is the worst I’ve ever seen,” Hoi An resident Tran Van Tien, 60, told Reuters.

The recent floods in central Vietnam killed at least 13 people, inundated over 116,000 houses and 5,000 hectares of crops, according to the government’s disaster agency, reported by Reuters. Roads and railways have been damaged and power disrupted in several areas.

Climate crisis supercharging typhoons

The western Pacific is the most active tropical basin on Earth but global ocean temperatures have been at record levels for each of the last eight years.

Hotter oceans, fueled by human-caused global warming, provide ample energy for storms to strengthen.

The climate crisis is supercharging rainfall events – like those seen in Vietnam and with Typhoon Kalmaegi – as warmer air can hold more moisture, which it then wrings out over towns, cities and communities.

In September, Typhoon Ragasa brought destructive winds and torrential rain to the Philippines, Taiwan, Hong Kong and mainland China as the strongest storm in the region this year.

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CNN’s Taylor Ward, Briana Waxman, and Isaac Yee contributed reporting