HANOI (AFP) – Tens of thousands of people were forced to flee their homes on Tuesday as massive floods inundated northern Vietnam in the wake of Typhoon Yagi, and the death toll climbed to 82.
Yagi struck on Saturday bringing winds in excess of 149 kilometres per hour and a deluge of rain that has caused flooding not seen in decades, according to locals.
Over 59,000 people have been forced to evacuate their homes in Yen Bai province, local authorities said yesterday, after the floodwaters engulfed almost 18,000 homes.
Floodwaters in Hanoi have reached levels not seen since 2008, state media reported, citing a senior local official, and forecasters have warned more is expected in the city’s historic centre.
Phan Thi Tuyet, 50, who lives close to the swollen and fast-moving Red River which runs through the capital, said she had never experienced such high water.
“I have lost everything, all gone,” she told AFP, clutching her two dogs as she was evacuated by boat, along with other residents whose homes were flooded. “I had to come to higher ground to save our lives. We could not bring any of the furniture with us. Everything is underwater now.”
Typhoons in the region are forming closer to the coast, intensifying more rapidly, and staying over land longer due to climate change, according to a study published in July.
Yagi downed bridges, tore roofs off buildings, damaged factories and triggered widespread flooding and landslides, leaving 64 people still missing.
Hanoi authorities said more than 25,000 trees in the city had been uprooted in the storm. Huge trunks blocked key roads in the city centre, creating large traffic jams.
The north of the country – densely populated and a major manufacturing hub for global tech firms including Samsung – was badly hit, with floodwaters in the city of Yen Bai at record levels, meteorologists said.
Authorities have issued flood and landslide warnings for 401 communes across 18 northern provinces.
One-storey homes in parts of Thai Nguyen and Yen Bai cities were almost completely submerged in the early hours of Tuesday, with residents waiting on the roofs for help.
Rescuers were trying to reach residential areas to retrieve old people and children. On social media, relatives of those stuck in floodwater posted desperate pleas for help and supplies in the early hours of the morning.
Crops including bananas, guavas and corn – which are usually sold in nearby markets – were all flooded.
As well as the dead and missing, flooding and landslides have also injured at least 752 people, officials at the ministry of agriculture said Tuesday.
Authorities stopped heavy vehicles crossing a major bridge over the Red River in central Hanoi yesterday and suspended a train line across Long Bien bridge as the water level rose.
The action followed the dramatic collapse of a bridge higher up the river in northern Phu Tho province on Monday.
Pictures showed half of the 375-metre Phong Chau bridge gone.
Five people who were crossing the bridge at the time have been rescued, but eight others were still missing Tuesday, authorities said.
The storm has also caused power blackouts and major disruptions to factories in the country’s north, which is a major production centre for a number of global tech firms.
Susumu Yoshida from the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry told AFP more than 80 Japanese companies had suffered some kind of damage from the typhoon, including to factory buildings, machinery, raw materials and products.
Some had suspended or partially suspended production, and would not resume operations until the end of the week, he said.
At least 24 people were killed as Yagi tore through southern China and the Philippines before hitting Vietnam.
