Millions in SE Asia battle floods, death toll passes 250

AFP | Hanoi, Vietnam

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Millions of people across Southeast Asia struggled yesterday with flooded homes, power cuts and wrecked infrastructure after Typhoon Yagi swept through the region, as the death toll passed 250. In worst-hit Vietnam, the fatalities rose to 226, with nine confirmed dead in northern Thailand -- where one district is suffering its worst floods in 80 years.

Myanmar's national fire service confirmed the country's first Yagi-related deaths after 17 bodies were recovered from flooded villages in the Mandalay region, while more than 50,000 people have been forced from their homes. Yagi brought a colossal deluge of rain that has inundated a swathe of northern Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Myanmar, triggering deadly landslides and widespread river flooding.

One farmer on the edge of Hanoi told AFP his entire 1,800 square metre peach blossom plantation was submerged, destroying all 400 of his trees. "It will be so hard for me to recover from this loss -- I think I will lose up to $40,000 this season," said the farmer, who gave his name only as Tu. "I don't know what to do now, I'm just waiting for the water to recede."

The United Nations children's agency (UNICEF) said the typhoon had damaged more than 140,000 homes across 26 provinces in Vietnam. Floodwaters in Vietnam are receding, draining through the Red River the main watercourse in the area into the sea. Authorities in several districts in the Red River delta ordered more than 50,000 people to evacuate their homes as a precaution while the runoff passes through.

The floods have devastated more than 250,000 hectares of crops and huge numbers of livestock, Vietnam’s agriculture ministry said, with farmland around Hanoi hit hard. In the deadliest single incident, a landslide in Lao Cai province annihilated an entire village of 37 houses, killing at least 42 people with 53 still unaccounted for.