Typhoon Yagi: more than 140 dead in Vietnam as flood waters threaten central Hanoi

Thousands of residents of Vietnam’s capital living close to the swollen Red River have been evacuated as its waters flooded streets days after Typhoon Yagi battered northern Vietnam, with the death toll rising to at least 143 people.

Yagi, the most powerful typhoon to hit Asia this year , made landfall on the northern coast of Vietnam on Saturday and moved westwards, hitting Hanoi with gales and heavy rain. The storm also hit other provinces up the Red River, the area’s largest, collapsing a bridge on Monday.

An entire village was swept away by a landslide caused by flash flooding in northern Vietnam, killing 16 people and leaving dozens missing, local media reported on Wednesday.

Vietnamese state broadcaster VTV said the torrent of water gushing down from a mountain in Lao Cai province on Tuesday buried the village of Lang Nu and 35 families in mud and debris.

Some schools in Hanoi have told students to stay home for the rest of the week due to flood concerns, while thousands of residents living in low-lying areas have been evacuated, according to sources, government and state media.

“This is the worst flood I have seen in 30 years,” Hanoi resident Tran Le Quyen, 42, told Reuters on Wednesday, adding that she had had to move furniture out of her flooded home to higher ground.

“It was dry yesterday morning. Now the entire street is flooded. We couldn’t sleep last night.”

Floods and landslides in other provinces continued to exact a deadly toll; as well as listing 143 people killed, the latest update from authorities declared 58 people missing.

“My home is now part of the river,” said Nguyen Van Hung, 56, another resident of a Hanoi neighbourhood on the banks of the Red River.

Farther inland towards the city centre, charity Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation had to evacuate its office after warnings from authorities about flood risks.

“People were moving frantically, moving their motorbikes, relocating items,” said Carlota Torres Lliro, the charity’s press officer, expressing concerns for “dozens of kids and families who live in slum areas and makeshift houses by the river.”

Typhoon Yagi also severely damaged a large number of factories and flooded warehouses in northern Vietnam’s export-oriented industrial hubs, forcing plants to shut, with some expected to take weeks to resume full operations, executives said.

The disruptions could affect global supply chains as Vietnam hosts large operations of multinationals that mostly export their products to the United States, Europe and other developed countries.

A bridge in the province of Phu Tho collapsed on Monday, with dramatic dashcam footage showing a truck disappearing into the river below.

Before making landfall in Vietnam, Yagi tore through southern China and the Philippines, killing at least 24 people and injuring dozens of others.

Typhoons in the region are now forming closer to the coast, intensifying more rapidly, and staying over land for longer owing to climate change, according to a study published in July.