Typhoon Yagi: The storm of the decade

Sarah Remmei

Returning to Hanoi right after Typhoon Yagi left me feeling overwhelmed on multiple levels. Upon landing I noticed how different the city appeared, streets lined with fallen trees, streetlights bent or broken and houses defaced from the onslaught. As my taxi drove past the Nhat Tan Bridge, I observed the swelling Red River, though the full extent of the flooding would not be evident until the following day.

I had been tracking Typhoon Yagi, and this storm’s intensity was unlike anything Hanoi had experienced in the past decade, as evidenced by the photos and videos shared by news channels and social media. I paused to reflect on how my recent Flood Risk study for Hanoi could contribute to preventing or mitigating the impact of storm floods. It became clear that rainfall and flood impacts are becoming not only more intense but also harder to map. As Typhoon Yagi’s eye passed over Hanoi, the city endured prolonged exposure to the storm’s most intense regions, causing partial flooding. However, the typhoon’s devastating effects were felt on a larger scale and extended beyond the city to provinces such as Lao Cai, Hai Phong, Quang Ninh, and Thai Nguyen.

Accurately estimating the full extent of loss and damage (including lives, livestock, livelihoods, system disruptions, diseases, and traumas) caused by the typhoon is impossible. I am impressed by the timely warnings, forecasting, preparedness, and response provided by Vietnamese authorities, which significantly helped prevent further destruction. It's important to note that the typhoon was at its strongest when it made landfall in Vietnam, which faced the brunt of the storm.

As the typhoon weakened and moved inland, it also affected Myanmar and Thailand. Preliminary assessments indicate a combined death toll of 268 in these two countries, compared to approximately 300 in Vietnam, and these figures are just preliminary assessments. How can cities and countries fully prepare for impending disaster like this one?

As such events become increasingly challenging, it is clear that the infrastructure we rely on was designed for the climate conditions of the past century, not for the increasingly severe events we face today. This underscores the urgent need for redesigning our infrastructure by working in harmony with natural systems and integrate traditional knowledge into technical solutions. Planting more trees and integrating rainwater percolation through pervious (permeable) pavement will pay off in future.

At the regional scale, the devasting impacts suffered by northern mountains, with entire villages wiped out by landslides, could be minimized through better land use spatial planning. Integrating bunds (earthen embankments) could reduce the velocity of runoff and soil erosion, retain water and support water infiltration. Common practices in these areas such as cutting steep slopes into mountainsides and flatting entire hills often exposes soil and slope to landslides, measures are required to restrict such methods.

The concept of resilience must be broadened to encompass not only physical structures but also mental and emotional capacities. We have some control in these areas, and can promote changes in our lifestyle choices and decisions made in calmer moments, when disaster is not imminent. Transformative change at all levels is required to address the shared climate challenges we face collectively.

It was moving to see the way the local community resumed their daily routines within two days. Street tea stalls reopened, and neighbours gathered once again to sip tea, this time sitting on fallen trees, undeterred by the disruption. Support poured in from across the country. The way people come together amidst loss and chaos and resilience truly shines during difficult times. The commitment of the leaders as well as the public’s response are also true testaments to the resilience of the people. However, this does not mean that we should accept disasters as inevitable and continue to normalize them.

The views in this article are not necessarily those of FES.