Floods, power cuts, destroyed homes… Typhoon Yagi killed 59 people in Vietnam according to a toll revised upwards on Monday, causing a “disaster” for the region’s factories, deplored by local economic leaders.
“As of noon (0500 GMT) on September 9, the number of people killed due to Typhoon Yagi stood at 59, including 44 killed in landslides and flash floods,” the VNEXpress news website reported.
Hours earlier, authorities had reported 247 injured.
Yagi is considered by meteorologists to be the most powerful typhoon to hit the north of the country in the last thirty years.
The storm, which made landfall Saturday morning near Haiphong before weakening Sunday evening, caused bridges to collapse, damaged factories and tore tin roofs off homes, with gusts exceeding 149 km/h.
“The situation is very serious,” Nguyen Hoang Hiep, deputy minister of agriculture and rural development, said in a statement.
“Localities must be active in supporting and ensuring the safety of residents and their property,” he insisted.
Some 1.5 million people were still without electricity on Monday.
In Phu Tho province, northeast of the capital Hanoi, a road bridge collapsed on Monday morning, taking several vehicles with it.
– power cuts –
Footage broadcast by state media showed the massive lattice structure falling in one piece into the muddy waters of the Red River.
Deputy Prime Minister Ho Duc Phoc said 13 people were missing following the accident, according to VNExpress. There were 10 cars and trucks, as well as two motorcycles, on the bridge when it collapsed, he said.
In neighbouring Yen Bai province, rising waters have forced 2,400 households to take refuge in the upper floors of their homes.
Water reached a height of one metre in some parts of Yen Bai town.
About 130 sites in 17 cities and provinces across Vietnam are at high risk of flooding and landslides, according to disaster management authorities.
In northern Vietnam, power cuts affected 5.7 million customers on Saturday and Sunday, according to national electricity supplier EVN.
The region, which is crucial to the country’s economy, is home to factories that supply electronics giants such as Samsung and Foxconn, whose products are then shipped around the world, particularly via the port of Haiphong.
– “Disaster” –
The typhoon’s passage has caused a “disaster” for businesses in the region, Hong Sun, president of the South Korean Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Vietnam, told AFP.
“During the typhoon, there was a power outage, so some companies had to shut down their factories, which meant they had to spend a lot of money and time to reconfigure all the machinery,” he said.
Susumu Yoshida, from the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Vietnam, said the roof of an electronics company’s site had been torn off and products had been flooded.
Six people, including a newborn and a one-year-old baby, were killed in a landslide in the northwestern town of Sa Pa on Sunday.
Before hitting Vietnam, Typhoon Yagi had passed through southern China and the Philippines, killing at least 24 people and injuring dozens.
Typhoons in the region are now forming closer to shore, intensifying more quickly and staying over land longer due to climate change, according to a study published in July.
tmh/aph/ah/jco
Related News :