Typhoon Yagi weakened on Sunday and was downgraded to a tropical depression after killing more than ten people in Vietnam, where it caused considerable damage including landslides.
Yagi, which devastated several regions in China and the Philippines this week, killing around 20 people, made landfall in northern Vietnam on Saturday, with winds exceeding 150 kilometres per hour.
A family of four was killed in a landslide in Vietnam’s mountainous northern province of Hoa Binh on Saturday night, state media reported.
The landslide occurred after several hours of heavy rains brought by the typhoon, when a hillside gave way and swallowed a house, VNExpress reported, citing local authorities.
The 51-year-old owner of the house was able to escape, but his wife, daughter and two grandchildren were buried, and their bodies were found shortly afterwards.
According to the Defense Ministry’s Rescue and Assistance Department, in addition to the four victims in Hoa Binh, ten others were killed, crushed by falling trees, landslides and drifting boats, the ministry said.
Six people, including a newborn baby and a one-year-old boy, were killed in a landslide in Sa Pa town in the Hoang Lien Son Mountains in northwest Vietnam on Sunday afternoon.
The landslide was triggered by heavy rains and strong winds, but authorities have not yet attributed the six deaths to the storm.
Vietnam’s meteorological agency downgraded Yagi from a typhoon to a tropical depression on Sunday, as several districts in the port city of Haiphong were under half a metre of water and power was cut off, with lines and poles damaged, AFP reporters said.
In Ha Long Bay, a UNESCO World Heritage Site about 70 kilometers from the city, fishermen were in shock after the typhoon left its mark on Sunday morning.
In this area, about thirty boats were badly damaged or sank in the province of Quang Ninh near Ha Long Bay, the authorities said.
The typhoon also destroyed nearly 3,300 homes, more than 100,000 hectares of rice and other crops, as well as much aquaculture infrastructure in the region.
– Roofs blown away –
Roofs of buildings were blown away and motorcycles were overturned by piles of debris, AFP journalists saw.
Pham Van Thanh, 51, said the crew of his tourist boat stayed on board overnight. “The wind was pushing us from behind, with such pressure that no boat could resist,” he told AFP. “The first one sank. Then one after the other.”
“I have been a sailor for over 20 years and I have never experienced a typhoon this powerful and violent,” he observed.
Bui Xuan Tinh lost three boats and his house due to the typhoon.
“I have been working in the maritime sector for decades and I have never witnessed an event like yesterday,” Tinh told AFP.
“I got a phone call from my kids at home saying our roof had blown off.” “I didn’t feel anything. All I thought was, ‘Oh my God, oh my God.’
Before hitting Vietnam, Typhoon Yagi passed through southern China and the Philippines, killing at least 24 people and injuring dozens more.
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-srg/sco/lgo/ktr/oaa
Related News :