Vietnam disaster leaves 336 dead or missing

As of 7 am on Friday the death toll and number of missing people due to Typhoon Yagi, floods, and landslides have surged to 336, according to data released by the Vietnam Disaster and Dyke Management Authority under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

This includes 233 dead and 103 missing.

The northern mountainous province Lao Cai is the hardest-hit locality with with 98 dead and 81 missing.

In particular, the devastating flash floods and landslides in Lang Nu hamlet in Phuc Khanh Commune, Bao Yen District on September 10 left a total of 110 people dead or missing.

Local authorities report that over 9,000 homes across the province have been submerged, eroded, or washed away by floods. Many villages remain isolated, and residents are unable to travel due to flooding and landslides blocking roads. Total property damage is estimated in the trillions of dong.

Lao Cai Province, along with various ministries and agencies, is continuing to mobilise all available forces to carry out search and rescue operations and mitigate the disaster's impact.

In Nu Village alone, 650 people are currently involved in the search and rescue efforts, including 359 residents and 300 soldiers from Military Region 2.

In addition to the Nu Village landslide, another landslide in Nam Tong Village in Nam Luc Commune, Bac Ha District, completely buried eight homes, resulting in seven deaths and 11 injuries. As of the morning of Thursday, 11 people remain missing.

Phu Tho reported one more death due to flooding.

Cao Bang recorded 52 casualties (43 dead, 9 missing), Yen Bai 48 (42 dead, 2 missing), and Quang Ninh reported 15 deaths.

Rail operations are to be resumed as the water level drops

The Ha Noi City’s Command for Disaster Prevention and Search and Rescue on Friday issued an order to lower the flood alert to level 2 on Hong (Red) and Duong rivers, with the possibility that railway operations across Long Bien and Duong bridges could resume on the same day.

Based on the water level of the Red River in Long Bien District at 1 am on Friday, the Command lifted the level 2 alert for areas along the river within the districts of Bac Tu Liem, Tay Ho, Ba Dinh, Hoan Kiem, Hai Ba Trung, Hoang Mai, Long Bien and the surrounding districts of Thanh Tri, Dong Anh and Gia Lam.

Similarly, based on the water level of the Duong River at the Thuong Cat Hydrological Station at midnight on Friday, the Command lifted the level 2 alert for areas along the river in Long Bien, Dong Anh and Gia Lam districts.

Vietnam Railways (VNR) reported that the railway across Long Bien and Duong bridges could reopen today (September 13) as the water levels of the Red and Duong Rivers have decreased.

VNR has requested the authorities to allow traffic on Long Bien and Duong bridges starting this morning as the rivers’ water levels have receded to safe levels.

At the moment, VNR is closely monitoring the situation and preparing to propose reopening the railway routes across the two bridges. Before resuming operations, VNR will conduct a thorough inspection of the entire bridge system to ensure safety for both people and vehicles.

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Previously, at 3 pm on September 10, due to concerns over rising floodwaters in the Red, the Department of Transportation had banned pedestrians and vehicles from both directions on Long Bien Bridge.

At 10 p. on the same day, the department also banned all pedestrian and vehicle traffic on Đuống Bridge.

Water slowly receding

According to the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting, at 8 pm on Thursday, the flood on the Cau River in Bac Ninh Province reached its peak at 7.79 metres, 1.49 metres above the third warning level, and just 0.05 metres below the historical flood level of 1971, which was 7.84 metres.

The water level is slowly receding.

Floodwaters on the Thai Binh River in Hai Duong City are also receding slowly. Similarly, the flood on the Hoang Long River in Ninh Binh Province at Ben De peaked at 4.93 metres, 0.93 metres above the third warning level at 7 pm on Thursday, and is now gradually decreasing.

Floodwaters on the Thuong River and the Luc Nam River in Bac Giang Province are slowly receding. Meanwhile, the flood level on the Red River in Ha Noi is also dropping.

The National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting predicted that in the next 12 to 24 hours, flood levels on the Cau, Thuong, and Hoang Long rivers will continue to recede but will remain above the third alert level.

Flood levels on the Luc Nam and Thai Bình rivers will also decrease but will stay above the second alert level, while the Red River in Ha Noi is expected to drop below the first alert level.

The centre also warned that over the next 24 hours, water levels at several downstream stations in the Red River-Thai Binh River system will change slowly but remain high, generally between the second and third alert levels, with some areas possibly exceeding the third alert level.

Due to the slow drainage of floodwaters from the Red River system, flooding is expected to persist in low-lying areas, riverbanks, and floodplains outside the main dikes in the provinces and cities of Hà Nội, Bắc Giang, Bắc Ninh, Thai Nguyen, Ninh Binh, Nam Dinh, Thai Binh, Ha Nam, and Hai Duong.

Prolonged high floodwaters could lead to breaches or overflow of riverbanks, and dike erosion, posing serious risks to vulnerable areas along rivers in Ha Noi, Ha Nam, Nam Dinh, Hai Duong, Hung Yen, Thai Binh, and Ninh Binh.

The flood disaster risk warning level is set at level 3.