By Khanh Vu and Minh Nguyen
HANOI/THAI NGUYEN (Reuters) – The death toll in Vietnam from typhoon Yagi and the landslides and flash floods it triggered rose to 226 on Thursday, the government’s disaster agency said, as flood pressure eased in the capital Hanoi.
The Southeast Asian country is reeling from the impact of Typhoon Yagi, the strongest storm to hit Asia this year, which made landfall in Vietnam’s northeastern coast on Saturday.
More than 100 people remain missing, while some 800 people have been injured, the agency said in a report.
Several districts in capital Hanoi remained flooded on Thursday, but the weather agency late in the day said flood pressure had eased, while flash floods and landslides continued to affect areas across northern Vietnam.
The city earlier evacuated thousands of people living near the swollen Red River as its waters rose to a 20-year high.
“There’s a lot of heartbreak in the city and there was a lot of concern going into the evening,” said charity Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation co-CEO Skye Maconachie. “Many people who barely had anything have lost everything.”
The government’s weather forecast agency said late on Thursday that the river had peaked in Hanoi and begun to subside.
North of Hanoi, landslides and severe floods are still affecting several areas, state media reported.
“I never thought my house would be under water this deep,” said Hoang Van Ty outside his home in Thai Nguyen province.
“My clothes and furniture were all under the water. Many things were floating around too but luckily I closed the doors so nothing was washed away.”
55 PEOPLE MISSING IN FLASH FLOOD
Thai Nguyen province is home to Samsung Electronics’ largest smartphone manufacturing plant in Vietnam. Flood waters have also receded in some parts of the province where clean up efforts are now taking place while residents are having their submerged TVs and motorbikes repaired.
“I only have this one motorbike to go to work with, but it was flooded so I have to bring it here to have it fixed,” said 36-year-old Thai Nguyen resident at a motorbike repair shop. “I can only go to work once it’s fixed.”
Repair man Nguyen Van Truong said his shop had fixed 60 motorbikes over the past two days, with 20 more waiting.
“We are a bit overwhelmed, very overwhelmed actually,” Truong said. “I’m tired form the hard work but people need transport means to smoothly get everything back to normal.”
In Lao Cai province, authorities on Thursday were rushing to search for 55 people missing in a flash flood that swept Nu Village on Tuesday, Vietnam News Agency reported.
The flash flood killed 46 people and injured 17 others in the village, the agency reported, adding that 300 soldiers and 359 local officials are joining the search and rescue effort.
The landslides and floods have inundated more than 200,000 hectares of rice and cash crop fields across northern Vietnam, the disaster management agency said.
The typhoon has also disrupted power supplies and blown off roofs of several factories in Haiphong and Quang Ninh provinces, halting production.
Several countries, including Australia, Japan, South Korea and the U.S., have said were sending aid to Vietnam.
(Reporting by Khanh Vu, Francesco Guarascio, Minh Nguyen and Phuong Nguyen; Editing by John Mair, Christopher Cushing, William Maclean)
