Parents in Ho Chi Minh City have had to return to take their children home shortly after dropping them off at school on Monday morning, as the metropolis and other localities in southern Vietnam brace for powerful typhoon Tembin.

The municipal authorities had initially ordered that educational institutions in the city, from kindergartens to universities, ask their students to stay home from Monday noon through Tuesday, but the stormy weather forced some schools to close much earlier.

“I was on my way to work after dropping my son off at his school when he phoned me and asked me to come back to take him home,” Nguyen Thanh Hien, a District 1 resident, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.

“I heard on the radio this morning that a storm was coming but never had I imagined the situation would be so urgent.”

Some schools have sent teachers to wait for parents at the school gates and told them to take their children back, while others decided to take the students in but carefully informed their parents of picking them up by Monday noon.

As Ho Chi Minh City is rarely influenced by typhoons, many parents were surprised to learn that students are allowed to skip classes due to a storm.

Rains were in fact recorded across Ho Chi Minh City early on Monday, as Tembin continues approaching southern Vietnam.

The typhoon, the 16th to hit Vietnam this year, is forecast to make landfall later on Monday, prompting several provinces to put evacuation plans in place.

In Ho Chi Minh City, authorities had evacuated more than 5,000 residents in coastal and storm-prone areas by the end of Sunday.

As of 4:00 am on Monday, storm Tembin was located 410 kilometers east of Con Dao Islands off Ba Ria-Vung Tau, producing winds at 100 to 135km per hour and squalls at the maximum of 166km an hour.

Upon entering the mailand, it will hit the mainland from the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau to Ca Mau Province in the Mekong Delta, according to the National Center for Hydro-meteorological Forecasting.

A guard informs parents of the new pick-up time at Tam Vu Elementary School in Ho Chi Minh City on December 25, 2017. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Students wait for their parents in front of a school in Ho Chi Minh City on December 25, 2017. Photo: Tuoi Tre

A mother takes her daughter home in the rain in Ho Chi Minh City on December 25, 2017. Photo: Tuoi Tre

A man walks his son to school in the rain in Ho Chi Minh City on December 25, 2017. Photo: Tuoi Tre

A father takes his daughter home in the rain in Ho Chi Minh City on December 25, 2017. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Students leave Vo Truong Toan Middle School in Ho Chi Minh City on December 25, 2017. Photo: Tuoi Tre

A student dressed in warm clothes is seen in Ho Chi Minh City on December 25, 2017. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Parents read a class cancelation announcement in front of Tam Vu Elementary School in Ho Chi Minh City on December 25, 2017. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Students are seen at Vo Truong Toan Middle School in Ho Chi Minh City on December 25, 2017. Photo: Tuoi Tre

A sixth-grader calls his parents to pick him up early in Ho Chi Minh City on December 25, 2017. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Students walk home after learning of the class cancelation in Ho Chi Minh City on December 25, 2017. Photo: Tuoi Tre

A mother takes her daughter home in the rain in Ho Chi Minh City on December 25, 2017. Photo: Tuoi Tre

A mother takes her daughter home in the rain in Ho Chi Minh City on December 25, 2017. Photo: Tuoi Tre

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