Typhoon Yagi ravages Vietnam: Chilling video of bridge collapse goes viral as death toll rises to 59 (WATCH)
A bridge collapse and a bus swept away by flooding on Monday marked the latest chapter in the devastation caused by Typhoon Yagi, which has ravaged northern Vietnam, resulting in at least 59 confirmed deaths.
FollowA bridge collapse and a bus swept away by flooding on Monday marked the latest chapter in the devastation caused by Typhoon Yagi, which has ravaged northern Vietnam, resulting in at least 59 confirmed deaths, state media reported.
The typhoon, one of the strongest to strike Vietnam in decades, initially made landfall on Saturday with winds of up to 149 kph (92 mph) before weakening into a tropical depression. Despite the downgrade, Yagi has unleashed severe floods and landslides, primarily across northern regions of the country.
In the mountainous Cao Bang province, a passenger bus carrying 20 people was swept into a flooded stream early Monday morning following a landslide. Rescue teams were immediately dispatched to the area, but their progress was hampered by additional landslides that blocked access to the site. The fate of those aboard the bus remains unclear, but local officials fear the worst as water levels continue to rise across the region.
Elsewhere, in Phu Tho province, a steel bridge over the swollen Red River collapsed on Monday morning, sending ten vehicles—cars, trucks, and motorbikes—plunging into the engorged waters. Rescue workers managed to pull three survivors from the river, all of whom were taken to the hospital for treatment. However, 13 people remain missing.
One of the survivors, Pham Truong Son, recounted the harrowing moments as the bridge gave way. “I heard a loud noise, and before I knew it, I was falling into the river,” Son told VNExpress. He described his terrifying experience as he struggled to stay afloat, ultimately clinging to a banana tree drifting down the river until rescuers reached him.
The death toll from Typhoon Yagi stands at 59 as of Monday, with nine fatalities attributed to the initial impact of the storm and another 50 lost to subsequent floods and landslides. The northern regions of Vietnam have been hit particularly hard, with river levels dangerously high and threatening to overflow.
In Sa Pa, a popular tourist destination known for its terraced rice fields and trekking routes, a landslide on Sunday killed six people, including an infant, and injured nine others.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has declared a state of emergency in several affected provinces and visited the port city of Haiphong on Sunday, where he approved a relief package of $4.62 million to aid recovery efforts.
Heavy rains have continued to pound northern Vietnam, with the country’s meteorological agency warning of more potential landslides and floods in the coming days. In some areas, rainfall is expected to exceed 40 centimeters (15 inches). The impact has been catastrophic for infrastructure, with more than 3 million people initially left without electricity across Quang Ninh and Haiphong provinces. Restoration efforts are ongoing, though it remains unclear how much power has been restored as of Monday.
Quang Ninh and Haiphong are significant industrial hubs, housing major factories that export goods globally, including electric vehicle maker VinFast and Apple suppliers Pegatron and USI. Factory workers in the region have reported widespread damage, with many industrial parks flooded and roofs torn off buildings.
The typhoon has also devastated agricultural lands, particularly in northern Vietnam’s rice-growing regions, where nearly 116,192 hectares of crops have been inundated.
Before making landfall in Vietnam, Typhoon Yagi wreaked havoc across the Philippines, where it claimed at least 20 lives, and in southern China, where an additional four people were killed. In China’s Hainan island province, infrastructure damage amounted to $102 million, with over 57,000 homes either collapsed or severely damaged. Power and water outages were reported, and roads were left impassable due to fallen trees.
Yagi made its second landfall in mainland China’s Guangdong province on Friday night, adding to the destruction already seen across the region.
Experts point to climate change as a key factor behind the increasing intensity of storms like Typhoon Yagi. Benjamin Horton, director of the Earth Observatory of Singapore, noted that warmer ocean waters are providing more energy for such storms, leading to stronger winds and heavier rainfall. As a result, coastal and riverine communities across Southeast Asia face a growing threat from more frequent and severe typhoons.
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