It is the most powerful typhoon to hit the north of the country in thirty years. Typhoon Yagi has killed at least 59 people in northern Vietnam, according to a new report released Monday, September 9 by state media. “September 9 at noon [heure locale, 7 heures à Paris]the death toll from Typhoon Yagi rose to 59, including 44 killed in landslides and flash floods”the site reported VNEXpress.
The storm, which made landfall in Quang Ninh and Haiphong provinces on Saturday before weakening on Sunday, caused widespread flooding, power outages, collapsed bridges, damaged factories and ripped tin roofs off homes, with gusts exceeding 149 km/h. Some 1.5 million people were still without power on Monday.
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In Phu Tho province, northeast of the capital Hanoi, the Phong Chau road bridge, which hangs over the Red River, broke on Monday morning, taking several vehicles with it. Footage broadcast by state media showed the massive latticework structure falling into the muddy waters of the Red River, which engulfed it. Deputy Prime Minister Ho Duc Phoc said 13 people were missing following the accident, according to the website VNExpressThere were ten cars and trucks, as well as two motorcycles, on the bridge when it collapsed, he said.
In neighboring Yen Bai province, rising waters have forced 2,400 households to seek shelter in the upper floors of their homes. Water has reached a metre in some parts of Yen Bai city.
“Disaster”
Some 130 locations in 17 cities and provinces across Vietnam are at high risk of flooding and landslides, according to disaster management authorities. In northern Vietnam, power outages affected 5.7 million customers on Saturday and Sunday, according to state electricity provider EVN.
This region, crucial to the country’s economy, is home to factories that supply major electronics groups such as Samsung and Foxconn, whose products are then shipped around the world, notably via the port of Haiphong.
The passage of the typhoon caused a “disaster” for businesses in the region, Hong Sun, president of the South Korean Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Vietnam, lamented to Agence France-Presse. “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 described.
Susumu Yoshida of the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Vietnam said the roof of an electronics company’s premises had been torn off and products had been flooded.
Six people, including a newborn baby and a 1-year-old boy, were killed Sunday in a landslide in the northwestern city of Sa Pa. Before hitting Vietnam, Typhoon Yagi passed through southern China and the Philippines, killing at least 24 people and injuring dozens.
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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.
