Typhoon Kajiki kills 3 in Vietnam, floods Hanoi streets
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A woman out on a street as Typhoon Kajiki approaches Nghe An province, Vietnam, on Aug 25.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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HANOI – Typhoon Kajiki
The storm damaged nearly 7,000 homes, inundated 28,800ha of rice plantings and felled 18,000 trees, the government said in a statement.
It also brought down 331 electricity poles, causing widespread blackouts in Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Thai Nguyen and Phu Tho provinces.
Streets in the capital Hanoi were severely flooded as heavy rain fell on the morning of Aug 26, paralysing traffic.
Cars were seen submerged up to their roofs in water.
Flood waters also surrounded residential areas in the city, which is preparing to host the country’s largest National Day parade in decades next week as it celebrates the 80th anniversary of its founding.
Video clips on the state media showed that water at West Lake, the largest lake in Hanoi, has overflowed its banks, as rain continued to fall.
Several villages in Bac Ninh province have also been isolated due to flooding, according to state media reports.
After making landfall on Vietnam’s north central coast on the afternoon of Aug 25, Kajiki has since weakened to a tropical depression as it moved across to Laos on the morning of Aug 26, the national weather agency said.
The agency warned that rain will continue in several parts of northern Vietnam, with some areas likely to get up to 150mm of rain in six hours, potentially causing flash floods and landslides.
Before making landfall in Vietnam, Kajiki skirted the southern coast of China’s Hainan island on Aug 24, forcing Sanya city on the island to close businesses and public transport. REUTERS
