Hanoi: Hanoi residents drowned in waist-deep water on Wednesday as river levels rose to 20-year highs and the death toll from the most powerful typhoon in decades topped 150, with neighboring countries also grappling with deadly floods and landslides.
Typhoon Yagi brought winds of more than 149 kilometers per hour to Vietnam over the weekend and torrential rains caused devastating floods in northern regions of Laos, Thailand and Myanmar.
Hanoi's Red River reached its highest level in 20 years on Wednesday, forcing residents to wade through waist-deep gray water as they reclaimed property from flooded homes.
Others built makeshift boats from materials they could find.
“It was the worst flood I've ever seen,” said Nguyen Tran Van, 41, who has lived along the Red River in the Vietnamese capital for 15 years.
“I didn't think the water would rise as fast as it did. I moved because if the water had risen a little bit it would have been very difficult for us to leave,” Vann said.
A landslide has hit the remote mountain village of Lang Nu in Lao Cai province, flattening it into a flat expanse of mud and rock, strewn with rubble and surrounded by rivers.
State media said at least 30 people had died in the village and another 65 were still missing.
Villagers laid bodies on the ground, some in makeshift coffins, others wrapped in cloth, while police dug through the dirt in search of more victims.
Vietnamese state media said the toll from Yagi – the strongest typhoon to hit northern Vietnam in 30 years – had risen to 155 across the country, with 141 missing.
It was unclear whether that total included victims of Tuesday's landslide, where access was difficult and internet was cut, reports said.
Mai Van Khim, head of the National Meteorological Department, told state media that the water level in Hanoi's Red River was the highest since 2004.
He warned that there will be major floods in the provinces surrounding the capital in the coming days.
Police, soldiers and volunteers helped hundreds of residents along a flooded river in Hanoi evacuate their homes early in the morning as water levels rose rapidly.
A Hanoi police official, who declined to be named, said officers were checking every house along the river on foot or by boat.
“All residents must leave,” he said. “We are bringing them to public buildings that have been converted into temporary shelters or they can stay with relatives. It has rained a lot and the water is rising fast.”
Images on Tuesday showed people trapped on rooftops and victims posted desperate pleas for help on social media, while 59,000 people were forced to evacuate their homes in Yen Bai province.
In neighboring Laos, authorities evacuated 300 people from 17 villages in northern Luang Namtha province, deputy district chief Sivilai Pankau said.
He said the Laos-China high-speed railway was not affected by the flood.
Houses and shops were flooded in the historic city of Luang Prabang, a World Heritage Site and major tourist destination, the Lao Post reported.
State media said at least one person had died and pictures showed rescuers working in murky gray flood waters.
Thai authorities said four people had died in the state's northern provinces of Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai, and the army had been mobilized to help some 9,000 flood-affected families.
Residents and local media in Myanmar said floods covered electricity and telephone lines in the town of Tachilek in eastern Shan State where more heavy rain is forecast.
Further south, hundreds of residents of the Myanmar border trade center of Myawaddy fled their homes to take refuge in schools and monasteries on higher ground after floodwaters rose, a resident of the town on the Thai border said.
Southeast Asia experiences annual monsoon rains, but man-made climate change is causing more intense weather patterns that could make catastrophic floods more likely.
Typhoons in the region are forming closer to the coast, intensifying faster, and staying on land longer because of climate change, according to a study published in July.
