In Phu Tho province, rescue operations were continuing after a steel bridge over the engorged Red River collapsed. Image / screenshot
In Phu Tho province, rescue operations were continuing after a steel bridge over the engorged Red River collapsed. Image / screenshot
A bridge has collapsed and a bus was swept away by flooding in Vietnam, raising the death toll in the Southeast Asian country to at least 64 from a typhoon and subsequent heavy rains that also damaged factories in export-focused northern industrial hubs, state media reported.
Nine people died on Saturday after Typhoon Yagi made landfall in Vietnam before weakening into a tropical depression. The rest died in the floods and landslides that followed in the following days.
The water levels of several rivers in northern Vietnam are now dangerously high.
Aerial view of damaged houses after typhoon Yagi on September 8, 2024 in Wenchang, Hainan Province of China. Notably, 17 townships of Wenchang, the city where the typhoon made its first landfall, suffered a direct hit, which has resulted in very severe disaster losses. Photo / Getty Images
A bus carrying 20 people was swept into a flooded stream by a landslide in mountainous Cao Bang province on Monday morning. State media said four bodies were recovered from the bus and one person was rescued alive. The others were still missing.
In Phu Tho province, rescue operations were continuing after a steel bridge over the engorged Red River collapsed. Reports said 10 cars and trucks along with two motorbikes fell into the river. Some people were pulled out of the river and taken to a hospital, but at least 10 people were still missing.
Nguyen Minh Hai, who fell into the flooded river, told Vietnam Television: “I was so scared when I fell down. I felt like I’ve just escaped death. I can’t swim and I thought I would die.”
Pham Truong Son, 50, told VN Express that he was driving on the bridge on his motorcycle when he heard a loud noise. Before he knew what was happening, he was falling into the river.
“I felt like I was drowning at the bottom of the river,” Son said, adding that he managed to swim and hold on to a drifting banana tree to stay afloat before he was rescued.
Dozens of businesses in Haiphong province haven’t resumed production because of extensive damage to their factories, state newspaper Lao Dong reported. It said the roofs of several factories were blown apart and water seeped inside, damaging finished goods and expensive equipment. Some companies said they still didn’t have electricity on Monday and that it would take at least a month to resume production.
Typhoon Yagi was the strongest typhoon to hit Vietnam in decades when it made landfall, with winds of up to 149km/h. Photo / Getty Images
Parts of Haiphong and Quang Ninh provinces were still without power on Monday. The two provinces are industrial hubs, housing many factories that export goods, including EV-maker VinFast and Apple suppliers Pegatrong and USI. Authorities are still assessing the damage to factories, but initial estimates showed that nearly 100 enterprises were damaged, resulting in millions of dollars in losses, the newspaper reported.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh visited Haiphong city on Sunday and approved a multimillion-dollar package to help the port city recover.
Typhoon Yagi was the strongest typhoon to hit Vietnam in decades when it made landfall, with winds of up to 149km/h. It weakened on Sunday, but the country’s meteorological agency warned that continuing downpours could cause floods and landslides.
In Phu Tho province, rescue operations were continuing after a steel bridge over the engorged Red River collapsed. Image / screenshot
On Sunday, a landslide killed six people including an infant and injured nine others in Sapa town, a popular trekking base known for its terraced rice fields and mountains. Overall, state media reported 21 deaths and at least 299 people injured from the weekend.
Skies were overcast in the capital, Hanoi, with occasional rain on Monday morning as workers cleared uprooted trees, fallen billboards and toppled electricity poles. Heavy rain continued in northwestern Vietnam and forecasters said it could exceed 40cm in places.
