Typhoon Yagi, Asia’s most powerful storm this year, was downgraded to a tropical depression on Sunday after wreaking havoc in northern Vietnam, China’s Hainan and the Philippines, claiming dozens of lives, according to preliminary reports.
Vietnam’s meteorological service issued the downgrade on Sunday but warned of the continued risk of flooding and landslides as the storm, the strongest to hit the country in decades, moves west.
On Saturday, Yagi knocked out power and telecommunications in Vietnam’s capital Hanoi, causing widespread flooding, cutting down thousands of trees and damaging homes.
The government said the storm led to at least three deaths in Hanoi, a city of 8.5 million people, with the figures being preliminary.
Fourteen people have died in Vietnam so far, according to reports, including four in a landslide in Hoa Binh province, about 100 kilometers (62 miles) south of Hanoi.
A 53-year-old motorcyclist was killed when a tree fell on him in the northern province of Hai Duong, state media reported.
At least one body has been pulled from the sea near the coastal city of Halong, where 12 people were missing at sea, and rescue operations are expected to begin on Sunday when conditions permit.
Yagi has claimed the lives of four people on the southern Chinese island of Hainan, according to the latest update from local authorities.
The civil defense office in the Philippines, the first country to be hit by Yagi since its inception last week, raised the death toll there on Sunday to 20 from 16 and said 22 people were still missing.
Risk of flash floods
After making landfall in Vietnam on Saturday afternoon, Yagi sent waves up to 4 meters high in coastal provinces, leading to widespread power and telecommunications outages complicating damage assessment, the government said.
The weather service warned of a continued “risk of flash floods near small rivers and streams, and landslides on steep slopes in many places in the northern highlands” and in coastal Thanh Hoa province.
Relative calm returned Sunday morning to Hanoi, where authorities rushed to clear streets of fallen trees that littered the city center and other neighborhoods.
“The storm has destroyed the city. Trees fell on people’s houses, cars and people on the street,” said 57-year-old Hanoi resident Hoang Ngoc Nhien.
Hanoi’s Noi Bai International Airport, the busiest in northern Vietnam, reopened on Sunday after being closed on Saturday morning.
In Hainan, preliminary estimates point to significant economic losses and widespread power outages, according to emergency authorities cited by the state-run Hainan Daily.
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