Water woes: People wading in a flooded street in the aftermath of Typhoon Yagi, in Hanoi. — AP
Asia’s strongest storm this year, Typhoon Yagi, caused damages estimated at 81.5 trillion dong (RM13.6bil) across northern Vietnam, or twice as much as previous estimates, state media said.
The typhoon, which killed 299 with 34 missing, devastated export-oriented industrial hubs, destroying factories and facilities, besides flooding farmland, damaging homes, and tearing up a bridge.
“The total economic damage is initially estimated at over 81.5 trillion dong, with most damage triggered by landslides and flash floods,” state-run Vietnam News Agency quoted Agriculture Minister Le Minh Hoan as saying yesterday.
The figure exceeds a preliminary estimate of US$1.6bil (RM6.59bil) made this month by the planning ministry that threatened to chip 0.15 percentage point from a forecast for economic growth of 6.8% to 7% this year.
Hoan urged authorities to help people resume production while ensuring supplies and holding down prices, as farm and agricultural land were among the areas hit hardest.
Live pig prices in Vietnam have risen steadily since Typhoon Yagi and subsequent flooding affected several pig farms, Reuters has reported.
On Thursday, rating agency S&P Global said Vietnamese banks’ profitability would be hit because of typhoon debt relief measures ordered by the central bank. — Reuters
