Vietnam heads to shelter as Typhoon Haiyan makes landfall MORE than 600,000 people have been evacuated amid fears of flooding and damaging winds as a weakened Typhoon Haiyan makes landfall on the northeast coast of Vietnam. The US Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) said the typhoon "is currently making landfall" about 160km/h east south-east of the capital Hanoi. CNN reported that the typhoon was packing sustained winds of 120km/h and gusts of 150km/h. Residents in Hanoi are bracing for heavy rains and flooding, while tens of thousands of people in coastal areas have been ordered to take shelter. The weather system - one of the most intense typhoons on record when it tore into the Philippines - weakened over the South China Sea and was expected to hit Vietnam as a Category 1 storm, meteorologists said earlier. Despite the weakening trend, threats from damaging winds, coastal storm surge flooding, flash flooding and heavy rain will remain in northern Vietnam and southern China as Haiyan passes over. The Vietnamese government website said that five people had died while preparing for the storm. ROLLING UPDATES: Latest on Typhoon Haiyan LIVING HELL: Thousands feared dead in the Philippines "We have evacuated more than 174,000 households, which is equivalent to more than 600,000 people," an official report by Vietnam's flood and storm control department said. The storm has changed course, the official Vietnam Television reported, prompting further mass evacuations of some 52,000 people in northern provinces by the coast. "People must bring enough food and necessities for three days... those who do not move voluntarily will be forced," online newspaper VNExpress report said, adding all boats have been ordered back to shore. The Red Cross said Haiyan's changed path meant affected areas "could be enlarged from nine provinces to as many as 15," stretching the country's resources. "This is one of the challenges going ahead," said Michael Annear, Red Cross country representative, adding that heavy rain and flooding were likely to hit Hanoi. Many of the capital's residents were rushing to stock up on food and water before the storm hit. "I ran to the supermarket to buy instant noodles, vegetables and meat for the family," said office worker Nguyen Thi Uyen, 33. There was not much left on the shelves...people are worried, buying food to last them for a few days. All schools will be shut in the capital today and extra police will redirect traffic in flood-prone areas. In the northern port city of Hai Phong, which is also expecting heavy rain and flooding, residents said they were struggling to prepare. "The city only warned us about the typhoon very late... they were too slow in advising people to prepare," Nguyen Hung Nam, 70, said. Many of the estimated 200,000 people evacuated in four south-central provinces initially thought to be in the storm's path have been allowed to go back to their homes, according to the government's website. By Sunday (local time) the typhoon had swept across Vietnam's Con Co island, 30km off the coast of central Quang Tri province, the Tuoi Tre newspaper reported. "All 250 people on the island including residents and soldiers were evacuated to underground shelters where there is enough food for several days," it said, adding the storm brought 3m waves. Central Vietnam has recently been hit by two other typhoons - Wutip and Nari, both Category One storms - which flooded roads, damaged sea dykes and tore the roofs off hundreds of thousands of houses.