HA LONG (AFP) – The death toll from Typhoon Yagi in Vietnam rose to 14 yesterday, and the storm was downgraded to a tropical depression, after it ripped roofs off buildings, sank boats and triggered landslides.
The typhoon left a trail of destruction and two dozen people dead across southern China and the Philippines before it ravaged Vietnam.
A family of four was killed in a landslide in the mountainous Hoa Binh province of northern Vietnam early yesterday morning, according to state media.
The landslide happened around midnight, after several hours of heavy rain brought by Yagi, when a hillside gave way and collapsed onto a house, VNExpress said, citing local authorities.
The home’s 51-year-old owner escaped but his wife, daughter and two grandchildren were buried, their bodies recovered soon after.
Yagi, which has devastated infrastructure and uprooted trees, made landfall in northern Vietnam on Saturday, packing winds exceeding 149 kilometres per hour.
Four people were killed on Saturday as roofing flew through the air, disaster management authorities said.
A man in Hai Duong province was killed on Friday when heavy winds brought down a tree. Several areas of the port city of Hai Phong were under half a metre of flood waters yesterday, and electricity was out, with power lines and electric poles damaged, according to AFP journalists.
At Ha Long Bay, a UNESCO World Heritage site about 70 kilometres up the coast from the city, fishermen were in shock as they examined the damage yesterday morning.
At least 23 boats were seriously damaged or sunk at the Hai Au boat lock on Tuan Chau island, according to local residents. Rooftops of buildings were blown off and motorbikes were left toppled over in piles of building rubble and glass, AFP journalists observed.
Pham Van Thanh, 51, a crew member of a tourist boat, said all the vessel’s crew remained on board since Friday to prevent it from sinking.
“The wind was pushing from our back, with so much pressure that no boat could stand,” he told AFP.
