Hundreds of thousands of people have been evacuated, and airports and schools closed after a typhoon made landfall in Vietnam.

Typhoon Kajiki, which has winds of up to 103mph, hit Vietnam‘s north central coast on Monday, toppling trees, flooding homes, and cutting power supplies, state media reported.

It has already caused devastation in southern China, with strong winds and heavy rain on Hainan Island and parts of Guangdong province on Sunday. Some 20,000 people were evacuated from high-risk areas, according to China’s Xinhua News Agency.

In Vietnam, there were plans to evacuate 600,000 people and 152,000 homes across Thanh Hoa, Quang Tri, and Danang provinces, state media reported.

The government has also mobilised 16,500 soldiers and 107,000 paramilitary personnel to assist with evacuations and rescue missions.

“This is an extremely dangerous, fast-moving storm,” a government spokesman said on Sunday.

One man died in Nghe An province on Friday after being electrocuted while trying to secure his roof, according to state media.

In Ha Tinh province on Monday, roofs were blown off and floating fishing farms were washed away.

Dang Xuan Phuong, a 48-year-old resident of Cua Lo, a tourist town in Nghe An, described the storm as “terrifying”.

“When I look down from the higher floors, I could see waves as tall as two metres, and the water has flooded the roads around us,” he told Reuters.

Two airports, one in Thanh Hoa and the other in Quang Binh province, were closed, the country’s civil aviation authority said, and boats were ordered not to leave their ports.

Vietnam Airlines and Vietjet also cancelled dozens of flights in the region, the operators confirmed.

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After moving through Vietnam, it is expected to move inland across Laos and northern Thailand.

Vietnam’s coastline on the South China Sea is particularly prone to storms that often trigger deadly flooding and landslides.

Kajiki is due to be more powerful than Typhoon Yagi, which killed 300 people and caused £2.4bn in damage last year.

Cyclones forming closer to land

A study published last year warned that climate change will cause southeast Asian cyclones to form closer to land, strengthening faster and lasting for longer, putting more lives at risk.

Professor of Earth Science Benjamin P. Horton, of City University Hong Kong, said: “It’s frightening to see our projections from just last year already materialising. We are no longer predicting the future – we are living it.”

China’s southernmost province downgraded its emergency response alert on Monday morning but warned of further disruption and damage.

People in the holiday resort of Sanya on Hainan Island were forced to take shelter on Sunday evening, with broken trees and damaged buildings reported on Monday.