Typhoon Yagi kills 14 in Vietnam as officials warn of heavy rain and flooding

At least 14 people have been killed and 176 others injured in Vietnam after Typhoon Yagi slammed into the country’s north, state media said on Sunday, as officials warned of heavy downpours despite its waning power.

The typhoon, described by Vietnamese officials as one of the most powerful to hit the region over the last decade, left more than three million people without electricity in the north.

It also damaged vital agricultural land – nearly 116,192 hectares where rice and fruit are mostly grown.

Hundreds of flights were cancelled after four airports were closed.

The typhoon made landfall in Vietnam’s northern coastal provinces of Quang Ninh and Haiphong with wind speeds of up to 92mph (149kph) on Saturday afternoon.

It raged for roughly 15 hours before gradually weakening into a tropical depression early on Sunday morning.

Vietnam’s meteorological department predicted heavy rain in northern and central provinces and warned of floods in low-lying areas, flash floods in streams, and landslides on steep slopes.

Municipal workers along with army and police forces were busy in the capital, Hanoi, clearing uprooted trees, fallen billboards, toppled electricity poles and rooftops that had been swept away, while assessing damaged buildings.

Yagi was still a storm when it blew out of the north-western Philippines into the South China Sea on Wednesday, leaving at least 20 people dead and 26 others missing, mostly in landslides and widespread flooding in the archipelago nation.

It then made its way to China, killing three people and injuring nearly 100 others, before landing in Vietnam.

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”, said Benjamin Horton, director of the Earth Observatory of Singapore.