Submerged: Local residents being evacuated on a boat through a flooded street in Hanoi. — AFP
EMERGENCY workers raced to evacuate thousands of people from severe floods after Typhoon Yagi swept through northern Vietnam, killing 63 people and leaving 40 missing.
Yagi struck on Saturday with winds in excess of 149kph, making it the most powerful typhoon to hit northern Vietnam in 30 years according to meteorologists.
The storm downed bridges, tore roofs off buildings, damaged factories and triggered widespread flooding and landslides.
The north of the country – densely populated and a major manufacturing hub for global tech firms including Samsung – is now battling “historic” flooding, meteorologists said.
Authorities have issued flood and landslide warnings for 429 communes across 17 northern provinces.
One-storey homes in parts of Thai Nguyen and Yen Bai cities were almost completely submerged in the early hours of yesterday, with residents waiting on the roofs for help.
Rescue forces 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 Hanoi, communities along the swollen and fast-moving Red River, which flows through the capital, were also partially under water, with people forced to evacuate in boats.
Downtown Hoan Kiem District was forced to relocate 460 people yesterday.
All gone: Tuyet carrying her dogs as she is evacuated on a boat through a flooded street in Hanoi. — AFP
Crops including bananas, guavas and corn – which are usually sold in nearby markets – were all flooded.
Phan Thi Tuyet, 50, who lives close to the river, said she had never experienced such high water.
“I have lost everything, all gone,” she said, clutching her two dogs.
“I had to come to higher ground to save our lives. We can not bring with us any of the furniture. Everything is under water now.”
As well as the dead and missing, flooding and landslides have also injured at least 752 people, officials at the ministry of agriculture said yesterday.
Authorities stopped heavy vehicles crossing a major bridge over the Red River in central Hanoi Tuesday 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 from the scene showed half of the 375m Phong Chau bridge gone.
Five people who were crossing the bridge at the time have been rescued, but eight others were still missing yesterday, authorities said.
Forecasters warned central Hanoi would be affected by flooding later yesterday.
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.
At least 24 people were killed as Yagi tore through southern China and the Philippines before hitting Vietnam. — AFP
