Hanoi flooded as Typhoon Yagi leaves 179 dead
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HANOI - Vietnam’s capital, Hanoi, evacuated thousands of people living near the swollen Red River as its waters rose to a 20-year high on Sept 11, flooding streets just days after Typhoon Yagi battered the country’s north, killing at least 179 people.
Yagi, the most powerful typhoon in Asia in 2024, brought gales and heavy rain as it moved westwards after landfall on Sept 7, collapsing a bridge this week while it scythed through provinces along the Red River, the area’s largest.
“My home is now part of the river,” said 56-year-old Nguyen Van Hung, who lives in a neighbourhood on the banks of the Red River.
Across the country, the typhoon and subsequent landslides and floods have killed 179 people, while 145 remain missing, according to government estimates.
Vietnam’s state-run power utility EVN said on Sept 11 that it had cut off power from some flooded parts of the capital due to safety concerns.
Dr Mai Van Khiem, director of the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting, said in a statement that the Red River was at its highest level in two decades and that more rain was expected over the next two days.
Some schools in Hanoi have told students to stay home for the rest of the week, while thousands of residents from low-lying areas have been evacuated, the government and state media said.
Nearer the city centre, charity Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation evacuated its office on Sept 10 after the authorities warned of flood risks.
“People were moving frantically, moving their motorbikes, relocating items,” said spokeswoman Carlota Torres Lliro, expressing concern for dozens of children and families living in makeshift houses by the river.
EVN said on Sept 11 that it had stopped discharging water from the Hoa Binh hydropower dam – the second largest in northern Vietnam – into the Da River, a tributary of the Red River, to reduce water flows.
The Vietnamese authorities also raised concerns on Sept 11 about Chinese hydropower plants releasing water into another Red River tributary, the Lo River, known in China as Panlongjiang, with Beijing saying the two countries were cooperating on flood prevention.
Blow to factories
Yagi wreaked havoc on many of the factories and flooded warehouses in coastal export-oriented industrial hubs east of Hanoi, forcing closures, with some expected to resume full operations only after weeks, executives said.
The disruptions threaten global supply chains, as Vietnam hosts large operations of multinationals that ship mostly to the US, Europe and other developed nations.
Elsewhere, in provinces north of the capital, landslides triggered by heavy floods killed dozens.
“My house’s first floor is completely under the water,” said Mr Nguyen Duc Tam, a 40-year-old resident of Thai Nguyen, a city about 60km from Hanoi.
“Now, we have no fresh water and electricity,” he added.
Among the factories located on the outskirts of the city of about 400,000 people is a large facility for Samsung Electronics, which ships about half of its smartphones worldwide from Vietnam.
There were no signs of flooding at the facility on Sept 11, a Reuters witness said. REUTERS
