Red River floods Vietnam's Hanoi as Typhoon Yagi kills more than 150

HANOI — Vietnam's capital of Hanoi evacuated thousands of people living near the swollen Red River as its waters flooded streets days after Typhoon Yagi battered the country's north, killing at least 152 people.

Asia's most powerful typhoon this year, Yagi brought gales and heavy rain as it moved westwards after landfall on Saturday (Sept 7), collapsing a bridge this week while scythed through provinces along the Red River, the area's largest.

"This is the worst flood I have seen in 30 years," Hanoi resident Tran Le Quyen, 42, told Reuters, adding that she had to move furniture from her flooded home to higher ground.

"It was dry yesterday morning. Now the entire street is flooded. We couldn't sleep last night."

The typhoon and subsequent landslides and floods have killed 152 people while 140 were missing, the government estimated.

Some schools in Hanoi have told students to stay home for the rest of the week, while thousands of residents of low-lying areas have been evacuated, government and state media said.

"My home is now part of the river," said Nguyen Van Hung, 56, who lives in a neighbourhood on the banks of the Red River.

Nearer the city centre, charity Blue Dragon Children's Foundation had to evacuate its office on Tuesday, after authorities warned of flood risks.

"People were moving frantically, moving their motorbikes, relocating items," said spokesperson Carlota Torres Lliro, expressing concern for dozens of children and families living in slum areas and makeshift houses by the river.

Blow to factories

Yagi wreaked havoc on many of factories and flooded warehouses in coastal export-oriented industrial hubs east of Hanoi, forcing closures, with some only expected to resume full operations after weeks,