By AP – published by Yahoo!News and Thai Newsroom
Hanoi, Vietnam – At least 14 people have died and 176 others injured in Vietnam after Typhoon Yagi slammed the country’s north, state media said today (Sep. 8), as officials warned of heavy downpours despite its waning power.
Described by Vietnamese officials as one of the most powerful typhoons to hit the region over the last decade, Yagi left more than 3 million people without electricity in northern Vietnam. It also damaged vital agricultural land, nearly 116,192 hectares where rice and fruits are mostly grown. Hundreds of flights were cancelled after four airports were closed.
The Thai Meteorological Department warned some Northern and upper Northeastern provinces to be careful of heavy rain and strong winds from indirect influence of Typhoon Yagi after it made landfall in northern Vietnam, TV Channel 7 said.
It is expected to weaken into a depression and then become a high-pressure cell.
Northern provinces that need to be especially careful are Chiang Rai, Phayao, Nan, Chiang Mai, Tak, Kamphaeng Phet, Phrae, Uttaradit, Phitsanulok, and Phetchabun and those in the upper Northeast Bueng Kan, Nakhon Phanom, Sakon Nakhon, Loei, Mukdahan, and Nong Khai.
The typhoon made landfall in Vietnam’s northern coastal provinces of Quang Ninh and Haiphong with wind speeds of up to 149 kilometres per hour (92 miles per hour) on Saturday afternoon. It raged for roughly 15 hours before gradually weakening into a tropical depression early Sunday morning. Vietnam’s meteorological department predicted heavy rain in northern and central provinces and warned of floods in low-lying areas, flash floods in streams and landslides on steep slopes.
Municipal workers along with army and police forces were busy in the capital, Hanoi, clearing uprooted trees, fallen billboards, toppled electricity poles and rooftops that were swept away, while assessing damaged buildings.
Yagi was still a storm when it blew out of the northwestern Philippines into the South China Sea on Wednesday, leaving at least 20 people dead and 26 others missing mostly in landslides and widespread flooding in the archipelago nation. It then made its way to China, killing three people and injuring nearly a hundred others, before landing in Vietnam.
Storms like Typhoon Yagi were “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.
CAPTIONS:
Top: Houses are submerged in flood after Typhoon Yagi hit Yen Bai province, northwestern Vietnam on Sunday, Sep. 8, 2024. Photo: AP and published by The Hindu
Insert: People walk past a broken light post after Typhoon Yagi hit the city, in Hai Phong, northern Vietnam. Photo: AP and published by Times of India
Front Page: A car is crushed underneath a broken tree after Typhoon Yagi hit the city in Hanoi, Vietnam on Sunday, Sep. 8, 2024. Photo: Tran Quoc Viet/ VNA via AP and published by NewsTimes
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