Hanoi river level hits 20-year high as SE Asia typhoon toll passes 150

AFP | Hanoi

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Residents of Hanoi waded through waist-deep water yesterday as river levels hit a 20-year high and the toll from the strongest typhoon in decades passed 150, with neighbouring nations also enduring deadly flooding and landslides.

Typhoon Yagi hit Vietnam at the weekend bringing winds in excess of 149 kilometres (92 miles) per hour and a deluge of rain that has also brought destructive floods to northern areas of Laos, Thailand and Myanmar.

The Red River in Hanoi reached its highest level in 20 years yesterday, forcing residents to trudge through waistdeep brown water as they retrieved possessions from flooded homes.

Others fashioned makeshift boats from whatever materials they could find. “This was the worst flooding I have witnessed,” said Nguyen Tran Van, 41, who has lived near the Red River in the Vietnamese capital for 15 years.

“I didn’t think the water would rise as quick as it did. I moved because if the water had risen just a bit higher, it would have been very difficult for us to leave,” Van said. A landslide smashed into the remote mountain village of Lang Nu in Lao Cai province, levelling it to a flat expanse of mud and rocks, strewn with debris and laced by streams.

State media said at least 30 people had been killed in the village, with another 65 still missing.

Villagers laid dead bodies on the ground, some in makeshift coffins, some wrapped in cloth, while police with picks and shovels dug through the dirt in search of more victims.

Vietnamese state media said the toll from Yagi -- the strongest storm to hit northern Vietnam in 30 years -- had risen to 155 across the country, with 141 missing.

It was not clear whether that total includes victims of Tuesday’s landslide, where access remained difficult and internet was cut off, reports said.

Mai Van Khiem, head of the national weather bureau, told state media that the water level in the Red River in Hanoi was at its highest since 2004.

He warned of serious widespread flooding in the provinces surrounding the capital in the days to come.

Police, soldiers and volunteers helped hundreds of residents along the banks of the swollen river in Hanoi to evacuate their homes in the early hours as the water level rose rapidly.