Millions of people in Southeast Asia struggled Thursday with flooded houses, power outages, and destroyed infrastructure after Typhoon Yagi blasted through the area, killing 200.
In the hardest-hit Vietnam, the death toll rose to 197, with nine confirmed dead in northern Thailand, where one area is experiencing its worst flooding in 80 years.
Myanmar’s national fire agency reported the country’s first Yagi-related deaths after 17 bodies were discovered in flooded villages in the Mandalay region, displacing over 50,000 people.
Yagi produced a massive deluge of rain that swamped northern Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, and Myanmar, causing catastrophic landslides and severe river flooding.
One farmer on the outskirts of Hanoi told AFP that his entire 1,800-square-metre peach blossom plantation had been drowned, damaging all 400 of his trees.
“It will be so hard for me to recover from this loss — I think I will lose up to $40,000 this season,” said the farmer, who gave his name only as Tu.
“I really don’t know what to do now, I’m just waiting for the water to recede.”
The United Nations children’s agency (UNICEF) said the typhoon had damaged more than 140,000 homes across 26 provinces in Vietnam.
Communications cut off
According to Vietnam’s agricultural ministry, the rising waters have destroyed more than 250,000 hectares of crops and a large number of cattle, with cropland around Hanoi being particularly heavily damaged.
Commuters in areas of the Vietnamese capital trekked through shin-deep brown floodwaters, although officials said river levels in the city are gradually receding after reaching a 20-year high Wednesday.
Thousands have been forced to flee their houses, while others are dealing with power outages.
In the deadliest single event, a landslide in Lao Cai province destroyed an entire village of 37 dwellings, killing at least 42 people and leaving 53 missing.
On Thursday, rescue workers extracted victims from the mud and transported them on stretchers to improvised shelters, where neighbours and relatives meticulously cleaned the remains in preparation for burial.
Survivors searched amid the mud and ruins for family treasures and keepsakes.
Fifteen bodies were retrieved in Cao Bang province after a landslide swept a bus, as well as many automobiles and motorcycles, into a stream on Monday, state television said Thursday.
Myanmar camps
Lay Shwe Zin Oo, director of the social welfare, relief, and resettlement ministry, told AFP that Myanmar’s military administration had set up approximately 50 camps to assist flood victims.
The state-run daily Global New Light of Myanmar reported that train services on the main line between Yangon and Mandalay had been suspended due to flooding in some areas.
On Thursday, the Mekong River Commission, the international organization in charge of the critical river, issued a flood warning for the historic Laotian city of Luang Prabang.
The Mekong River is projected to flood Luang Prabang, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the coming days, according to a commission report.
The death toll in Thailand has grown to nine, according to the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation, with six people killed by landslides in Chiang Mai province.
Aviation authorities have grounded all flights to Chiang Rai Airport, which is around 145 kilometers (90 miles) northeast of Chiang Mai.
Further north, the Mae Sai district on Myanmar’s border is experiencing the worst flooding in 80 years, according to Suttipong Juljarern, a senior interior ministry official.
The head of the Jet Ski Association of Thailand, Dechnarong Suticharnbancha, told AFP that the organization had dispatched 16 jet skis to assist with relief efforts.
Some of the currents in the floodwaters are too strong for typical boats, but jet skis can negotiate them due to their powerful engines.
A video of champion jet skier Kasidit Teeraprateep rescuing an elderly woman from a torrent of murky water has surfaced on Thai social media.
Every year, heavy monsoon rains batter Southeast Asia, but human-caused climate change is producing more intense weather patterns, potentially increasing the likelihood of disastrous floods.
A study published in July found that climate change is forcing typhoons to form closer to the coast, intensify faster, and stay longer over land.