HANOI: Asia's most powerful storm in 2024, Typhoon Yagi, has wreaked havoc in Vietnam, raising the death toll to 65 and leaving 39 others missing in the north of the country, the disaster management agency said in its latest update on the situation on Tuesday.
Most of the casualties were due to landslides and flash floods that also injured 752 people, the agency added.
The typhoon made landfall on Vietnam's northeastern coast on Saturday, devastating a large swath of industrial and residential areas and bringing heavy rains that triggered flooding and landslides. It had earlier hit the Philippines and the southern Chinese island of Hainan.
Government officials say severe flooding is expected to inundate parts of northern Vietnam, including the capital, Hanoi.
Other areas in the north, including the industrial hubs of Bac Giang and Thai Nguyen, which host factories of several export-oriented multinationals, are also facing severe flooding, state media reported. It was not immediately clear whether businesses were affected.
Several rivers in northern Vietnam have swelled to alarming levels, leaving villages and residential areas flooded, according to the disaster agency and state media.
A 30-year-old bridge over the Red River in the northern province of Phu Tho collapsed on Monday, leaving eight people missing, according to a statement from the provincial People's Committee.
Authorities subsequently banned or restricted traffic on other bridges spanning the river, including the Chuong Duong Bridge, one of Hanoi's largest, state media reported.
“Water levels in the Red River are rising rapidly,” the government said in a post on its Facebook account on Tuesday.
Using public loudspeakers commonly used to spread communist propaganda in the past, officials warned residents of the capital's riverside Long Bien district to be on alert for possible flooding and ready to evacuate the area.
Floodwaters have already inundated villages on the outskirts of Hanoi, according to state radio. Cable TV Authorities were reportedly already evacuating residents from the area.
Evacuations were also underway in flood-prone areas in Bac Giang province, the government said, where the typhoon and flooding have caused damage estimated so far at 300 billion dong ($12.1 million).
More than 4,600 soldiers have been deployed in the province to support evacuation and help flood victims.
Lao Cai province has reported the highest number of casualties with 19 people dead and 11 missing, most of them in landslides, according to the disaster management agency.
The floods have also inundated 148,600 hectares or nearly 7% of rice fields in northern Vietnam and 26,100 hectares of commercial crops and damaged nearly 50,000 houses in northern Vietnam, according to the agency.
