Typhoon Yagi: Landslides bury Vietnamese village as death toll rises to more than 150

A man pushes a stack of plyboards in flood following Typhoon Yagi in Hanoi, Vietnam Credit: AP

More than 150 people have died after a powerful typhoon and its aftermath caused widespread flooding and landslides in Vietnam.

A flash flood washed away an entire hamlet in the north of the country on Wednesday, leaving more than 30 people dead and dozens missing.

Vietnamese state broadcaster VTV said the torrent of water gushing down from a mountain in Lao Cai province on Tuesday buried Lang Nu in mud and debris.

About a dozen people have been rescued, while team recovered 30 bodies and continued to search for about 65 others.

Many roads in the northwestern Lao Cai province were blocked by landslides and flooding after unrelenting rain, said Sapa tour guide Van A Po.

Rescue workers clear mud and debris brough down by a flood in Lang Nu hamlet in Lao Cai province, Vietnam Credit: AP

Nguyen Van Luong, who works in a hotel, said he couldn't return home since the nine mile road from Sapa to his village was too dangerous to drive.

“The road is badly damaged and landslides could happen anytime. My family told me to stay here until it’s safer to go home,” he said.

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Typhoon Yagi and its aftermath brought flooding and widespread destruction. On Monday, dozens of people were killed when a bridge collapsed while, in a separation incident, a bus carrying 20 people was swept away by flooding.

The steel bridge in Phu Tho province over the overflowing Red River collapsed, sending 10 cars and trucks along with two motorbikes into the river. The bus carrying 20 people was swept into a flooded stream by a landslide in mountainous Cao Bang province.

A banana garden is submerged in flood Credit: AP

Yagi was the strongest typhoon to hit the Southeast Asian country in decades. It made landfall Saturday with winds of up to 92 mph. Despite weakening on Sunday, downpours have continued and rivers remained dangerously high.

Storms like Typhoon Yagi are “getting stronger due to climate change, primarily because warmer ocean waters provide more energy to fuel the storms, leading to increased wind speeds and heavier rainfall,” said Benjamin Horton, director of the Earth Observatory of Singapore.

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