Hanoi Floods as Landslides and Rising Rivers Push Typhoon Death Toll to 143

The death toll in Vietnam from Typhoon Yagi has risen to 143, with dozens more missing, the government said on Wednesday, as relentless rain continued to cause landslides in small villages and flooding in the capital of Hanoi.

Yagi was the strongest typhoon to hit Vietnam in decades. It arrived on Saturday, tearing through the country’s north with 90 mph winds. Even as the storm’s strength has diminished, downpours have continued, drowning one of the most densely populated river valleys in Southeast Asia and raising alarm about Vietnam’s vulnerability to extreme storms brought on by climate change.

For thousands of years, people have tried to manage water around the Red River, which starts in China and flows southeast through Hanoi to the Gulf of Tonkin. Flooding is an occasional fact of life for the fertile area, but on Tuesday, the Red River was rising by nearly four inches every hour, according to state media. Factories had already been shut down. Schools were telling families to keep children home.

By Wednesday, a landslide had smothered a hamlet of 158 people in the mountainous province of Lao Cai, bordering China. Video from Vietnam state media showed a flat area of muddy soil with no sign of life. Search and rescue teams have recovered 22 dead bodies from the scene.

“It’s the most deadly landslide caused by the typhoon so far,” said Nhu Thi Tam, a local official near the village. She cut short a phone interview as she hurried to move her family and belongings out of her house after another urgent landslide alert was issued in her neighborhood.