Super typhoon Yagi forces Vietnam airport closures, including Hanoi

 Vietnam's civil aviation authority, CAAV, said about 240 domestic and 70 international flights would be suspended on Saturday to "ensure absolute safety" and "prevent the impact of the storm on the technical infrastructure."

Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha said Vietnam had to seize the "golden moment" to prepare for Typhoon Yagi, forecast to hit airports in the cities of Hanoi and Thanh Hoa, the port city of Haiphong and the province of Quang Ninh, location of the UNESCO heritage site Ha Long Bay and many large factories for companies including Vietnam's electric vehicle maker VinFast, plus Apple suppliers Pegatron and USI.

As the megastorm barrels through the Gulf of Tonkin, the tropical country is watching for potential impacts on oil and gas fields in the South China Sea, northern mining operations, the power grid, hydropower dams, fish farms and rice paddies.

The government said on its website that authorities were sending alerts to residents, ordering evacuations of fishing boats and homes vulnerable to flash floods and landslides, putting emergency personnel and vehicles on standby, pruning trees and checking infrastructure like reservoirs and dikes. Local media reported hundreds of travelers' cruises were canceled in Ha Long Bay, where companies often sail sleeper ships for overnight tours of the olive-green hills and waters.