The Song Cau Market in Dak Lak Province suffered severe damage Friday morning as powerful winds from Typhoon Kalmaegi ripped off the metal roofs of dozens of homes and market stalls.
The area was directly in the storm's path for five hours, experiencing wind speeds that reached up to 149 kph.
The storm's fury was evident in the damage sustained by the market's central section.
The fierce winds wrecked many stalls within the structure, which is a significant local landmark. The market, originally established in 1906 and expanded after 1975, is home to roughly 160 vendor stalls.
Metal sheets torn from house roofs were scattered across nearby residential streets.
Typhoon Kalmaegi rapidly weakened into a tropical depression and then dissipated into a low-pressure area on Friday morning after it slammed into central Vietnam the previous night.
The storm made landfall in Dak Lak and Gia Lai provinces with winds between 118–149 kilometers per hour (kph) at around 7 p.m. Thursday, battering the region for nearly six hours before losing its intensity as it moved into southern Laos.
Among the hardest hit was 63-year-old Nguyen Thi Kim Hong, who stood staring at the wreckage of her fruit stall. A vendor at the market for over 30 years, she stated she had never witnessed such destruction. Despite the damage, she remained resilient.
“Now I just have to clean up and buy new supplies so I can start selling again,” Hong said.
The coastal roads of Quy Nhon Ward in Gia Lai Province, which is concentrated with high-rise buildings and tourist facilities, suffered some of the heaviest damage. Strong winds blew the roofs off many houses, shops, and hotels in this vital coastal hub.
Restaurant worker Minh Tuan said his workplace was badly destroyed: the metal frame had collapsed, the roof was entirely gone, and part of a cement wall had been cracked in two.
“When the wind finally died down last night, I went out to look—I could not imagine everything was destroyed,” he said.
