Millions of people fight floods in Southeast Asia, death toll exceeds 200

Millions of people in Southeast Asia struggled with flooded homes, power outages and destroyed infrastructure on Thursday after Typhoon Yagi swept through the region, with the death toll surpassing 200.

In worst-hit Vietnam, the death toll rose to 197. Nine deaths were confirmed in northern Thailand – a district there is suffering from the worst floods in 80 years.

Myanmar's national fire service confirmed the first deaths related to the Yagi disaster in the country after 17 bodies were recovered from flooded villages in Mandalay region, while more than 50,000 people were forced to flee their homes.

Yagi brought heavy rains that inundated much of northern Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Myanmar, triggering deadly landslides and widespread river flooding.

A farmer on the outskirts of Hanoi told AFP that his entire 1,800 square metre peach blossom orchard had been flooded, destroying all of his 400 trees.

“It's going to be so hard for me to recover from this loss. I think I'll lose up to $40,000 this season,” said the farmer, who gave his name only as Tu.

“I really don't know what to do now. I'm just waiting for the water to go down.”

According to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the typhoon destroyed more than 140,000 houses in 26 provinces of Vietnam.

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The floods destroyed over 250,000 hectares of farmland and large numbers of livestock, the Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture said. The farmland around Hanoi was particularly badly affected.

Commuters in parts of the Vietnamese capital trudged to work through shin-deep brown floodwaters, even as officials said water levels in the city's rivers were slowly receding after hitting a 20-year high on Wednesday.

Thousands have had to leave their homes, others are struggling with power outages.

In the deadliest single incident, a landslide in Lao Cai province destroyed an entire village with 37 houses. At least 42 people were killed and 53 are still missing.

Rescue teams pulled victims from the mud on Thursday and carried them on stretchers to makeshift shelters, where neighbors and relatives carefully washed the bodies and prepared them for burial.

Survivors searched through the mud and rubble to recover any family heirlooms and belongings they could find.

In Cao Bang province, 15 bodies were recovered after a landslide pushed a bus and several cars and motorcycles into a stream on Monday, state media reported on Thursday.

Myanmar camp

Myanmar's junta government has set up around 50 camps to help people affected by the floods, Lay Shwe Zin Oo, director of the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement, told AFP.

Myanmar's state-run newspaper Global New Light reported that train services on the main line between Yangon and Mandalay had been suspended because some sections were flooded.

The Mekong River Commission, the international body that oversees this important waterway, issued a flood warning for the historic Lao city of Luang Prabang on Thursday.

The Mekong River is expected to flood in the UNESCO World Heritage site of Luang Prabang in the coming days, the commission said in a bulletin.

In Thailand, the death toll has risen to nine, including six people killed in landslides in Chiang Mai province, according to the Ministry of Disaster Risk Reduction and Mitigation.

All flights to the airport in Chiang Rai, about 145 kilometers northeast of Chiang Mai, have been suspended, aviation authorities said.

Further north, Mae Sai district on the border with Myanmar is suffering from its worst flooding in 80 years, Suttipong Juljarern, a senior Interior Ministry official, said in a statement.

The Jet Ski Association of Thailand has sent 16 jet skis to support relief efforts, Dechnarong Suticharnbancha, the association's president, told AFP.

Some of the currents in the floodwaters are too strong for normal boats, but jet skis can navigate them thanks to their powerful engines.

A video circulated on Thai social media showing jet ski champion Kasidit Teeraprateep rescuing an old woman from a murky flood.

Southeast Asia is hit by heavy monsoon rains every year, but human-induced climate change is leading to more intense weather patterns that can increase the likelihood of devastating floods.

Climate change is causing typhoons to form closer to the coast, intensify faster and stay over land longer, according to a study published in July.

© 2024 AFP