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

Hanoi: Residents of Hanoi wade through waist-deep water on Wednesday as river levels rose to their highest in 20 years and the death toll from the most powerful typhoon in decades rose above 150, with neighboring countries also battling deadly floods and landslides.

Typhoon Yangi slammed into Vietnam over the weekend, packing winds of more than 149 kilometers per hour and heavy rain, which also caused severe flooding in northern Laos, Thailand and Myanmar.

Water levels on Hanoi's Red River rose to a 20-year high on Wednesday, forcing residents to wade through waist-deep brown water to retrieve belongings from flooded homes.

Others built makeshift boats out of whatever materials they could find.

“This is the worst flooding I have ever seen,” said Nguyen Tran Van, 41, who has lived near the Red River in Vietnam’s capital for 15 years.

“I didn’t think the water would rise this fast, so I moved out because if the water rose a little bit more, it would be very difficult for us to get out,” Van said.

A landslide has swept through the remote mountain village of Lang Nu in Lao Cai Province, leaving the village flat and covered in mud and rocks, scattered debris and flowing streams.

State media reported that at least 30 people were killed in the village and 65 were missing.

Villagers laid the bodies on the ground, some in makeshift coffins and others wrapped in cloth, while police used shovels and picks to dig in the ground to search for more victims.

Vietnam's state media reported that the death toll from Typhoon Yangi, the most powerful storm to hit northern Vietnam in 30 years, has risen to 155 nationwide, with 141 people still missing.

It is unclear whether the tally includes those affected by Tuesday's landslide, as access and internet remained cut off, the report said.

Mai Van Khiem, head of the National Meteorological Administration, told state media that water levels in Hanoi's Red River were at their highest level since 2004.

He warned that widespread flooding would occur in the next few days in provinces surrounding the capital.

Police, soldiers and volunteers helped hundreds of people evacuate their homes along a swollen river in Hanoi early this morning as water levels rose rapidly.

A police officer in Hanoi declined to be named, saying officers would be checking every house along the river on foot or by boat.

“All residents have been evacuated,” he said. “We are taking them to public buildings that have been converted into temporary shelters or to relatives. The rain is very heavy and the water level is rising very quickly.”

Photos on Tuesday showed people trapped on rooftops and victims posting desperate pleas for help on social media as 59,000 people were forced to evacuate their homes in Yen Bai province.

In neighboring Laos, authorities have evacuated 300 people from 17 villages in northern Luang Namtha province, said district chief Sivilai Pankaew.

He said the Laos-China high-speed railway was not affected by the floods.

In the historic capital of Luang Prabang, a World Heritage Site and popular tourist destination, houses and shops were flooded, the Lao Post reported.

State media reported at least one death, and photos showed rescuers working through murky brown floodwaters.

Thai officials said four people had died in the northern provinces of Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai, and the military had been sent to help about 9,000 families affected by the floods.

In Myanmar, local residents and media reported that flooding had knocked out power and telephone lines in Tachileik, in the eastern Shan state, with more heavy rain expected.

In the south, hundreds of villagers in Myanmar's border trade hub Myawaddy have fled their homes to seek shelter at schools and temples on higher ground as floodwaters rise, residents in the town on the Thai border said.

Southeast Asia experiences heavy monsoon rains every year, but human-caused climate change is making extreme weather more severe, potentially leading to more damaging floods.

Typhoons in the region are forming closer to the coast, intensifying more quickly and staying above land longer due to climate change, according to a study published in July.

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