Typhoon death toll rises in Vietnam as downed trees hamper rescuers

VINH, Vietnam: The death toll from Typhoon Kajiki rose to three in Vietnam on Tuesday, as rescue workers battled uprooted trees and downed power lines and widespread flooding brought chaos to the streets of the capital Hanoi.

The typhoon hit central Vietnam on Monday with winds of up to 130 km/h (80 mph), tearing roofs off thousands of homes and knocking out power to more than 1.6 million people.

Authorities on Tuesday said three people had been killed and 13 injured, and warned of possible flash floods and landslides in eight provinces as Kajiki’s torrential rains continue to wreak havoc.

On the streets of Vinh, in central Vietnam, AFP journalists saw soldiers and rescue workers using cutting equipment to clear dozens of trees and roof panels that had blocked the roads.

“A huge steel roof was blown down from the eighth floor of a building, landing right in the middle of the street,” Tran Van Hung, 65, told AFP.

“It was so lucky that no one was hurt. This typhoon was absolutely terrifying.”

Vietnam has long been affected by seasonal typhoons, but human-caused climate change is driving more intense and unpredictable weather patterns.

This can make destructive floods and storms more likely, particularly in the tropics.

“The wind yesterday night was so strong. The sound from trees twisting and the noise of the flying steel panels were all over the place,” Vinh resident Nguyen Thi Hoa, 60, told AFP.

“We are used to heavy rain and floods but I think I have never experienced that strong wind and its gust like this yesterday.”

Flooding has cut off 27 villages in mountainous areas inland, authorities said, while more than 44,000 people were evacuated as the storm approached.

– Chaos in Hanoi –

Further north in Hanoi, the heavy rains left many streets under water, bringing traffic chaos on Tuesday morning.

“It was impossible to move around this morning. My front yard is also flooded,” Nguyen Thuy Lan, 44, told AFP.

Another Hanoi resident, Tran Luu Phuc, said he was stuck in one place for more than an hour, unable to escape the logjam of vehicles trapped by the murky brown waters.

“The flooding and the traffic this morning are terrible. It’s a big mess everywhere,” he told AFP.

After hitting Vietnam and weakening to a tropical depression, Kajiki swept westwards over northern Laos, bringing intense rains.

The high-speed Laos-China railway halted all services on Monday and Tuesday, and some roads have been cut, but there were no immediate reports of deaths.

In Vietnam, more than 100 people have been killed or left missing from natural disasters in the first seven months of 2025, according to the agriculture ministry.

In September last year Typhoon Yagi battered northern Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Myanmar, triggering floods and landslides that left more than 700 people dead and causing billions of dollars’ worth of economic losses.