Typhoon Yagi, Asia’s most powerful storm this year, was downgraded to a tropical depression on Sunday (8) after wreaking havoc in northern Vietnam, where it damaged factories and infrastructure in export-oriented industrial hubs.
Vietnam’s meteorological agency issued the downgrade on Sunday but warned of a continued risk of flooding and landslides as the storm, the strongest to hit the country in decades, moved west.
On Saturday (7), Yagi disrupted power and telecommunications in Vietnam’s capital Hanoi, causing massive flooding, knocking down thousands of trees and damaging homes.
The typhoon and subsequent landslides and floods have killed 21 people in Vietnam and injured 229, according to preliminary government estimates, after killing four people on the southern Chinese island of Hainan and 20 in the Philippines, the first country it hit a week ago.
In Haiphong, a Vietnamese coastal city of 2 million people that is home to factories belonging to several multinational companies, industrial parks remained closed on Sunday, workers and managers told Reuters.
One of them was flooded and workers said they were sent home after trying to go to work without knowing the conditions in their factories because telecommunications networks had not been restored.
“The damage to the factories is really significant. Some have lost roofs or entire front facades,” said Bruno Jaspaert, head of the DEEP C industrial zones, which house factories owned by more than 150 investors in Haiphong and neighboring Quang Ninh province.
He said at least 80 percent of factories were damaged, but industrial parks were not flooded.
“If things go well, it could take a month for me to fully recover from this damage,” said Do Van Truong, a 45-year-old shop owner in Haiphong, noting that the roof of his seafood store collapsed while power and water supplies were cut.
Several highways in the north of the country were flooded or seriously affected, state media reported, publishing photos and footage of landslides.
Flood risk remains
After hitting Vietnam on Saturday afternoon, Yagi sent waves of up to 4 meters (13 feet) high into coastal provinces, leading to prolonged power and telecommunications outages that complicated damage assessment, the government said.
The weather agency warned of the continued “risk of flash flooding” in riverside areas, including in Hanoi.
As the winds died down, Hanoi authorities rushed to clear streets of downed trees scattered across the city center and other neighborhoods.
“The storm devastated the city. Trees fell on houses, cars and people in the streets,” said Hoang Ngoc Nhien, a 57-year-old Hanoi resident.
Hanoi’s Noi Bai International Airport, the busiest in northern Vietnam, reopened on Sunday after closing on Saturday morning.
This content was originally published in Typhoon Yagi causes damage to infrastructure and factories in Vietnam on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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