A powerful typhoon has battered Vietnam's coastal provinces, with strong winds and rains felling trees and tearing the roofs off houses. Schools and airports were closed and almost 600,000 people across the country were ordered to leave their homes ahead of Typhoon Kajiki's arrival on Monday afternoon in the coastal province of Ha Tinh.

Vietnam closed schools, airports, and evacuated thousands of people as it braced for powerful Typhoon Kajiki to make landfall Monday, threatening the country’s northeast with destructive winds and storm surges.

By Khanh Vu and Minh Nguyen CUA LO (Reuters) -Typhoon Kajiki brought torrential rains to Vietnam's north central coast on Monday, felling trees and flooding homes, despite wind speeds tapering off from earlier in the day.