Dozens dead in Vietnam after 'worst typhoon' in 30 years

At least 58 people are dead and hundreds are missing after Typhoon Yagi made landfall

Phong Chau bridge in Vietnam wiped out by Super Typhoon Yagi
The Phong Chau bridge in Vietnam was wiped out by Super Typhoon Yagi
(Image credit: Stringer / AFP via Getty Images)

What happened

A powerful typhoon has left at least 58 people dead and hundreds missing in Vietnam. Rains and heavy flooding from Typhoon Yagi triggered landslides and yesterday's collapse of the Phong Chau bridge in Phu Tho province. A bus carrying nearly two dozen people was swept into a stream following a landslide in Cao Bang province.

Who said what

Typhoon Yagi made landfall Saturday with wind speeds of more than 120 miles per hour and gusts up to 155 mph — the "equivalent to a Category 3 hurricane," The Washington Post said. Yagi is "the worst typhoon in probably three decades in Vietnam," Than Vu of the U.S.-ASEAN Business Council said to the Post. "For the northern part of Vietnam, we've never seen this." More than 700 people have been reported injured from the storm and "at least 46,500 homes were damaged," along with "hundreds of thousands of acres of crops," The New York Times said. Yagi has cut power to "millions of households and companies" and "brought economic activity in many industrial hubs to a halt," Reuters said.

What next?

Super typhoons like Yagi are "getting stronger due to climate change," as warmer oceans "provide more energy to fuel the storms," Benjamin Horton, the director of the Earth Observatory of Singapore, said to The Associated Press.

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Rafi Schwartz, The Week US

Rafi Schwartz has worked as a politics writer at The Week since 2022, where he covers elections, Congress and the White House. He was previously a contributing writer with Mic focusing largely on politics, a senior writer with Splinter News, a staff writer for Fusion's news lab, and the managing editor of Heeb Magazine, a Jewish life and culture publication. Rafi's work has appeared in Rolling Stone, GOOD and The Forward, among others.