At least 59 people have died in Vietnam after the most powerful typhoon to hit the southeast Asian country in decades made landfall.
Dozens of people are missing, mostly because of landslides and floods triggered by Typhoon Yagi, according to Vietnam‘s disaster management agency.
A busy steel bridge collapsed on Monday and millions lost power in the typhoon, which hit on Saturday and was downgraded to a tropical depression on Sunday.
A bus carrying 20 people was also swept away by flooding.
State media reported that nine people died during the typhoon, with at least another 50 killed in subsequent floods and landslides.
The weather agency has warned of more floods and landslides, while state-run energy provider EVN said more than 5.7 million customers lost power over the weekend, but electricity had been restored to nearly 75% of those affected.
The bridge collapsed over the engorged Red River in Phu Tho province, with several motorbikes and cars falling into the water, local state media reported.
A bridge collapsed in Phu Tho province. Pic: Bui Van Lanh/ VNA via AP
Three people were pulled out of the river in ongoing rescue operations and have been taken to hospital.
Managers at industrial parks and factories in Haiphong, a city on the northern coast, said they had no electricity and were trying to salvage equipment.
“Everyone is scrambling to make sites safe and stocks dry,” said Bruno Jaspaert, head of DEEP C industrial zones.
Walls of a LG Electronics factory collapsed, according to a Reuters witness.
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Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh visited Haiphong on Sunday and approved a package of $4.62m (£3.5m) to help the port city recover.
Yagi also damaged agricultural land, nearly 116,192 hectares where rice is mostly grown.
Before hitting Vietnam, Yagi killed at least 20 people in the Philippines last week and three people in China.
Storms like Yagi are “getting stronger due to climate change”, said Benjamin Horton, director of the Earth Observatory of Singapore.
This is primarily “because warmer ocean waters provide more energy to fuel the storms, leading to increased wind speeds and heavier rainfall,” he added.