HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — A bridge collapsed and a bus was swept away by flooding Monday as more rain fell following a typhoon Vietnam that has caused at least 59 deaths in the Southeast Asian country and disrupted businesses and factories in the export-focused northern industrial hubs, state media reported.
A passenger bus carrying 20 people was swept into a flooded stream by a landslide in mountainous Cao Bang province Monday morning.
In Phu Tho province, rescue operations were continuing after a steel bridge over the engorged Red River collapsed Monday morning.
Three people were pulled out of the river and taken to the hospital, but 13 others were missing.
Pham Truong Son, 50, told VNExpress that he was driving on the bridge on his motorcycle when he heard a loud noise.
Dozens of businesses in Haiphong province hadn’t resumed production by Monday because of the extensive damage to their factories, reported state media Lao Dong newspaper.
Typhoon Yagi was the strongest typhoon to hit Vietnam in decades when it made landfall Saturday with winds up to 149 kph (92 mph).
Overall, state media reported 21 deaths and at least 299 people injured from the weekend.
Heavy rain continued in northwestern Vietnam and forecasters said it could exceed 40 centimeters (15 inches) in places.
Before hitting Vietnam, Yagi caused at least 20 deaths in the Philippines last week and four deaths in southern China.
HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — In the wake of typhoon Vietnam, which has left at least 59 people dead in the country and disrupted factories and businesses in the export-focused northern industrial hubs, a bridge collapsed and a bus washed away by flooding on Monday as more rain fell, according to state media.
Typhoon Yagi struck Vietnam on Saturday, killing nine people before it subsided into a tropical depression. At least fifty more people perished in the ensuing floods and landslides, according to official media VN Express. In several rivers in northern Vietnam, the water levels were dangerously high.
In the mountainous province of Cao Bang, a landslide on Monday morning swept a passenger bus with twenty people into an inundated stream. When rescuers were sent out, landslides obstructed their route.
Rescue efforts were ongoing in the province of Phu Tho following the collapse of a steel bridge over the engorged Red River on Monday morning. Ten automobiles, including trucks and two motorcycles, were reported to have fallen into the river. Thirteen individuals were reported missing, while three were recovered from the river and transported to a hospital.
According to VNExpress, 50-year-old Pham Truong Son heard a loud noise while riding his motorcycle across the bridge. He found himself plunging into the river before he realized what was happening. Son told the newspaper, “I felt like I was drowned to the bottom of the river,” but he was able to swim and cling to a drifting banana tree for support before help arrived.
Due to the significant damage to their factories, dozens of businesses in Haiphong province had not started up again by Monday, according to the Lao Dong newspaper, a state media outlet. According to the report, water seeped into industrial units, causing damage to expensive equipment and finished goods. Several factories’ roofs were also blown apart. At least a month would pass before some businesses could start up again, according to those who said they still didn’t have power on Monday.
Haiphong and Quang Ninh provinces remained without power on Monday due to fallen electricity poles. The two provinces are major industrial centers, home to numerous factories that export goods, such as VinFast, a manufacturer of electric vehicles, and Pegatrong and USI, suppliers to Apple. Although officials are still evaluating the damage to industrial facilities, preliminary calculations indicate that the typhoon caused losses of millions of dollars to almost 100 businesses, according to the newspaper.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh paid a visit to Haiphong City and approved a $4.62 million package to aid in the port city’s recovery.
With winds of up to 149 kph (92 mph), Typhoon Yagi made landfall in Vietnam on Saturday, making it the strongest storm to hit the country in decades. It lessened on Sunday, but the nation’s meteorological agency issued a warning that landslides and flooding could result from the ongoing rains.
Sunday saw a landslide in Sa Pa town, a well-known trekking base renowned for its mountains and terraced rice fields, that claimed six lives, including an infant. Nine more people were injured. 21 people were killed and at least 299 injured over the weekend, according to state media.
Monday morning in Hanoi, the capital, the skies were overcast with sporadic rain while laborers cleared fallen electricity poles, billboards, and uprooted trees. Northwest Vietnam is still experiencing a lot of rain, with forecasters predicting up to 40 centimeters (15 inches) of rain in some areas.
Additionally, Yagi harmed farmland that is primarily used for rice cultivation.
Yagi killed four people in southern China and at least twenty in the Philippines last week before striking Vietnam.
According to Chinese officials, the province of Hainan suffered infrastructure losses totaling $102 million, including 57,000 houses that were destroyed or collapsed, power and water outages, and roads that were either damaged beyond repair or rendered impassable by falling trees. On Friday night, Yagi reached Guangdong, a province on the mainland that borders Hainan.
According to Benjamin Horton, director of Singapore’s Earth Observatory, 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.”
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