Death toll in Vietnam rises to 199, flash floods and landslides after typhoon

Nearly 200 people have died and 128 are missing in Vietnam following Typhoon Yagi as flash floods and landslides take their toll, state media reported on Thursday.

Vietnam's VNExpress The newspaper reported that 199 people died and over 800 were injured.

Although the Red River's floodwaters receded somewhat in the capital, many areas were still under water up to their necks.

In Hanoi's Tay Ho district, people waded through knee-deep muddy brown water to get along a road, some still wearing their bicycle and motorcycle helmets after abandoning their vehicles along the way.

Some paddled along the road in small boats as empty water bottles, a plastic foam cooler and other flotsam floated by; a man pushed his motorcycle in an aluminum sloop toward drier ground.

Pedestrians pulled their shorts up as high as possible to avoid getting wet from the wake of a delivery truck that was making its way through the water.

Bakery owner Mai Anh left the area with her family to seek shelter at her parents' house. When she returned to check on her shop on Thursday, she found it was still under more than half a meter of water.

“I can't do business with the flood,” she said. “The goods in my shop are all destroyed.”

Floods in Hanoi were reportedly the worst in two decades.

As the floodwaters rose, residents began evacuating the area on Tuesday. Electricity and drinking water have been cut off since Wednesday.

The flood damaged the doors of Hoang Anh Tu's house, where he runs a beer bar. Although he and his family were able to move into his parents' house, they had to take turns guarding the building.

“It's very difficult,” he said. “We couldn't even estimate the damage because the flood came so quickly.”

Yagi was the strongest typhoon to hit the Southeast Asian country in decades, making landfall on Saturday with winds of up to 149 km/h. Although it weakened on Sunday, heavy rains continued and rivers remain dangerously high.

The death toll rose sharply earlier this week when a flash flood washed away the entire village of Lang Nu in the northern Vietnamese province of Lao Cai on Tuesday.

Hundreds of rescue workers worked tirelessly to search for survivors on Wednesday, but 53 villagers were still missing on Thursday morning. VNExpress reported, while seven more bodies were found, bringing the death toll there to 42.

Most of the deaths were caused by floods and landslides, many of them in the northwestern province of Lao Cai on the border with China, where Lang Nu is located. The popular trekking destination of Sapa is also located in Lao Cai province.

On Monday, a bridge collapsed and a bus was swept away by the flood, killing dozens of people.

In Phu Tho province, the steel bridge over the flooded Red River collapsed, sending ten cars and trucks and two motorcycles plunging into the river. The bus carrying 20 people was swept into a flooded river by a landslide in the mountainous province of Cao Bang.

Experts say storms like Typhoon Yagi are becoming more severe due to climate change because warmer ocean waters are providing them with more energy, leading to stronger winds and heavier rainfall.