Typhoon Yagi has affected several Asian countries, causing significant material losses. In Vietnam alone, the passage of this natural event has also left 141 people missing.
Text: RFI / AFP
At least 155 people have died in Vietnam after Typhoon Yagi struck over the weekend, causing massive flooding that has also affected Thailand and Laos.
In the mountainous Lao Cai province of Vietnam, a landslide has swept through a village, killing 30 people and leaving 65 missing, according to Vietnamese media, which published shocking images of the mud.
According to VTV, 155 people have died so far and another 141 are missing, although the state channel did not specify whether this toll includes the victims in Lao Cai.
Vietnam is still suffering the consequences of the typhoon that hit the north of the country on Saturday and Sunday, with rain and wind gusts exceeding 150 km/h.
The flooding, unprecedented in decades, has reached Hanoi, where the rising Red River has forced the evacuation of hundreds of people.
*Read also: UCV warns that September 2024 will be a month of “extreme rain”
According to Mai Van Khiem, director of the national weather forecasting centre, the river has reached its highest level since 2004.
“I didn’t think the water would rise so fast (…) It’s the worst flood I’ve ever seen,” said Nguyen Tran Van, who has lived near the riverbank in Hanoi for 15 years.
“If the water had risen a little more, it would have been very difficult for us to get out,” said the 41-year-old office worker, who was able to move her furniture upstairs to keep it dry.
Sixteen provinces and cities in Vietnam remained under threat of rockfalls and flooding on Wednesday, although several media outlets reported that waters had begun to recede in some mountainous regions.
Yagi left four dead in Thailand
Floods have also affected regions in Burma, Laos and Thailand.
A rescue operation is underway in northern Thailand to help 9,000 families trapped by the floodwaters, Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra said.
Two people have died in a landslide in the northern province of Chiang Mai and two others in unspecified circumstances in the northern province of Chiang Rai.
In Laos, state media reported that at least one person has died. Flooding also damaged homes and shops in Luang Prabang, a city listed as a World Heritage Site, the Lao Post newspaper said.
In Luang Namtha province, 300 people have been evacuated from 17 villages. “I think it will be another two days before they can return home,” Sivilai Pankaew, deputy district chief, told AFP.
*Read also: Maduro establishes agreements with Vietnam on political, economic and technological matters
In Myanmar, heavy rains caused massive flooding in Tachileik, a border town with Thailand, disrupting telephone communications, local media and witnesses reported.
Further south, hundreds of residents of Myawaddy, another trading centre on the border with Thailand, had to flee their homes to seek refuge in schools and temples on high ground to avoid the floodwaters, one resident told AFP.
Before reaching Vietnam, Typhoon Yagi crossed southern China and the Philippines, leaving at least 24 dead and dozens injured.
According to a study published in July, typhoons in this region are forming closer to the coast, are more intense and remain on land for longer, all due to climate change.
Post Views: 84
