Torrential rains and strong winds from Typhoon Yagi devastated northern Vietnam on Sept. 9, leaving a reported 58 people dead and 732 injured. Dozens more are missing. In the week of Sept. 3, Yagi killed at least 20 people in the Philippines and four more in southern China. The total estimated death toll as of Sept. 10 morning has reached at least 82. Among the victims were an infant and a 1-year old, Vietnamese media reported. The storm is the region’s strongest in a decade, with wind speeds exceeding 230 kilometers per hour (143 miles per hour). It has destroyed bridges, factories and farms, caused power outages, and forced hundreds of thousands of people forced to flee their homes. The typhoon has now weakened to a tropical depression, but authorities warn of more potential flooding and landslides in the days ahead. Thirteen regions in Vietnam are under high risk for flash floods following the storm. More than 3,500 households in Yen Bai in northeast Vietnam are being evacuated following rising water levels in the Red River. A bridge there collapsed on the morning of Sept, 9 while vehicles were crossing. A 2018 report by the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change listed Vietnam as one of the most vulnerable nations to climate change impacts, citing rising sea levels and more powerful storms. “There will continue to be extreme weather events as present, but coming faster than anticipated, more intense, more frequent and more difficult to predict,” Dao Xuan Lai, head…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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