Typhoon Yagi, the strongest to hit Asia this year, weakened to a tropical storm today after hitting northern Vietnam, China’s Hainan province and the Philippines, claiming dozens of lives, according to preliminary reports.
Vietnam’s meteorological agency today announced the weakening but warned that there were still risks of flooding and landslides as the storm, the strongest to hit the country in decades, moves westward.
The government said the storm had claimed the lives of at least three people in Hanoi, a city of 8.5 million inhabitants, noting that the number was provisional. Fourteen people have been killed so far in Vietnam, according to reports, including four by a landslide in Hoa Bin province, about 100 kilometers 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 was recovered from the sea near the coastal town of Halong, where the fate of dozens of people at sea is missing and rescue operations were due to begin today, conditions permitting.
Yagi claimed the lives of four people on the southern Chinese island of Hainan, according to the latest updated information from local authorities.
