Bakery owner Mai Anh evacuated the area with her family to shelter with her parents, but returned on Thursday to check on her shop and found more than half a metre of water still inside.

“I can’t do business with the flood like this,” she said. “The goods in my shop are all destroyed.”

The flooding in Hanoi has been reportedly the worst in two decades.

Residents started evacuating the area on Tuesday as the floodwater rose, and power and drinking water have been cut since Wednesday.

The floodwater damaged the doors to Hoang Anh Tu’s home, from which he operates a beer shop. Though he and his family were able to relocate to his parents’ house, they have had to take turns guarding the building.

Loading

“It’s very difficult,” he said. “We haven’t even been able to assess the damage because the flood came so fast.”

Yagi was the strongest typhoon to hit the South-East Asian country in decades. It made landfall Saturday with winds of up to 149km/h. Despite weakening on Sunday, downpours continued and rivers remain dangerously high.

Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade on Thursday said it was providing $3 million in humanitarian relief, emergency supplies and other essential services in response. It said a Royal Australian Air Force transport aircraft had already delivered essential provisions such as shelters and hygiene kits on Wednesday night.

Hundreds of rescue personnel worked tirelessly through Wednesday to search for survivors, but by Thursday morning, 53 villagers remained missing, VNExpress reported, while seven more bodies were found, bringing the death toll there to 42.

On Monday, a bridge collapsed and a bus was swept away by flooding, killing dozens of people.

The steel bridge in Phu Tho province over the engorged Red River collapsed, sending 10 cars and trucks, along with two motorbikes, into the river. The bus carrying 20 people was swept into a flooded stream by a landslide in mountainous Cao Bang province.

Experts say storms like Typhoon Yagi are getting stronger due to climate change, as warmer ocean waters provide more energy to fuel them, which leads to higher winds and heavier rainfall.

AP, Reuters