HANOI: Vietnam's capital Hanoi evacuated thousands of people living near the swollen Red River as its waters rose to a 20-year high, flooding streets days after Typhoon Yagi slammed into the north of the country, killing at least 179 people.
Floods and landslides have hit parts of Thailand and Myanmar after Yagi brought days of heavy rain.
“My house is now part of the river,” said Nguyen Van Hung, 56, who lives in a neighborhood on the banks of the Red River in Vietnam.
Nationwide, 145 people are missing due to the typhoon and subsequent landslides and flooding, the government estimated.
Vietnam's state-run power company EVN said on Wednesday it had cut power supplies to some flooded areas of the capital due to safety concerns.
Mai Van Khiem, director of the National Hydrometeorological Forecasting Center, said in a statement that the Red River was at its highest level in two decades and more rain was expected in the next two days.
Some schools in Hanoi have asked students to stay home for the rest of the week, while thousands of residents in low-lying areas have been evacuated, the government and state media said.
“People were moving frantically, moving their motorbikes, relocating objects,” said spokeswoman for the Blue Dragon Children's Foundation, Carlota Torres Lliro, expressing concern for the dozens of children and families living in makeshift houses by the river.
Elsewhere, in provinces north of the capital, landslides triggered by heavy flooding killed dozens of people.
“The first floor of my house is completely under water,” said a Thai Nguyen resident.
“Now we have no drinking water or electricity,” he said.
Another resident said he had not experienced flooding like that in the area in more than 20 years.
“My belongings and possibly those of many other people are completely lost.”
In Thailand, Yagi has killed at least two people and left hundreds stranded after heavy rains lashed the country, causing rivers to swell, flooding settlements and triggering landslides, authorities said Wednesday.
Destruction from Typhoon Yagi has reached northern Laos, flooding villages and farmland, straining hydroelectric dams and claiming at least one life, officials, local residents and state media said Wednesday.
The rugged, mountainous provinces of Luang Namtha and Phongsaly are the worst hit, according to state broadcaster footage. Lao National Television showing residents taking shelter on upper floors and wading through chest-deep water in murky, brown water.
It is difficult to get a clear picture of the situation in Laos, where the authoritarian communist government tightly controls the release of information and state media has placed great emphasis on official relief efforts.
