Typhoon Yagi leaves dozens dead and causes major damage in Vietnam

Typhoon Yagi, Asia’s most powerful storm this year, left dozens dead in northern Vietnam and widespread damage as it churned westwards, preliminary government estimates showed on Monday, while the weather agency warned of more floods and landslides.

Thirty five people have died and 24 are missing, mostly because of landslides and floods triggered by the typhoon, Vietnam’s disaster management agency said.

The typhoon made landfall on Saturday on Vietnam’s northeastern coast, home to large manufacturing operations of domestic and foreign companies, and was downgraded to a tropical depression on Sunday by the meteorological agency, Reuters reported.

It cut power to millions of households and companies, flooded highways, disrupted telecommunications networks, downed a medium-sized bridge and thousands of trees and brought to a halt economic activity in many industrial hubs.

Managers and workers at industrial parks and factories in Haiphong, a coastal city of two million, said on Monday they had no electricity and were trying to salvage equipment from rain in plants whose metal sheets roofing had been blown away.
“Everyone is scrambling to make sites safe and stocks dry,” said Bruno Jaspaert, head of DEEP C industrial zones, which host plants from more than 150 investors in Haiphong and the neighboring province of Quang Ninh.

“Lots of damages,” said Hong Sun, the chairman of the South Korean business association in Vietnam when asked about the typhoon’s impact on Korean factories in coastal areas.

The weather agency warned of more floods and landslides, noting that rainfall ranged between 208 mm and 433 mm in several parts of the northern region over the past 24 hours.

State-run power provider EVN said that more than 5.7 million customers lost power during the weekend as dozens of power lines were broken, but electricity was restored on Monday to nearly 75% of those affected.