(Hanoi) The death toll from Typhoon Yagi’s passage over northern Vietnam with its procession of floods and landslides has now stood at 197, the Vietnamese government announced on Thursday.
About 128 people are missing and more than 250,000 hectares of farmland have been destroyed, agriculture ministry officials added in an official report. The previous death toll on Wednesday was 155.
Yagi is the most powerful typhoon to hit northern Vietnam in the past 30 years, according to meteorologists.
Bridges were destroyed, roofs torn off and factories damaged by the storm, which made landfall on Saturday with winds of more than 93 mph (149 km/h).
PHOTO NHAC NGUYEN, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
The rising Red River has led to the evacuation of hundreds of people in Hanoi.
The north of the country has since been plagued by massive flooding. Villages are partly under water, while thousands of people have been evacuated.
In one district on the outskirts of Hanoi, more than 15,000 people have been affected by the floods.
Farmers are bearing the brunt of the typhoon: around 1.5 million chickens and ducks died after Yagi, as well as 2,500 pigs, buffalo and cows, according to official figures.
PHOTO AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
In the mountainous province of Lao Cai, a landslide swept away a village, killing 30 people and leaving 65 missing.