Super Typhoon Yagi started as a tropical storm in the western Philippine Sea on September 1. The strongest storm in Asia in 2024 so far, it charted a destructive path through the Philippines and southern China before barreling into northern Vietnam, where it hit hardest.
Yagi made landfall in the Philippines on September 2, killing at least 16 people in landslides and flooding. Bad weather shut down schools and government offices in Manila as enhanced seasonal monsoon rains drenched cities around Luzon. The storm, locally known as Enteng, disrupted power and telecommunications services throughout the island. Though the storm weakened over the Philippines, it intensified again due to unusually warm waters in the South China Sea. On September 4, Yagi hit the coast of China’s Hainan province with heavy rain and violent wind, killing two, triggering widespread power outages, and paralyzing local infrastructure. Yagi crossed the Qiongzhou Strait and headed north to Guangdong province while maintaining much of its strength.
On September 5, Yagi made landfall again near Haiphong, Quang Ninh province, in northern Vietnam, triggering deadly floods and landslides. With severe gales and rain causing bridge collapses, disrupting power, and destroying homes, the typhoon killed at least 226 people and left 104 missing. Thousands were evacuated from Hanoi as the Red River swelled to a 20-year high, flooding streets in Yagi’s aftermath. The typhoon, though weakening, continues to move inland, prompting more evacuations as heavy rains contribute to further flooding.
Northern Vietnam is a key manufacturing hub and is home to many industrial centers for export goods, ranging from VinFast factories, to Apple parts suppliers, and other electronic manufacturers. The damage to Vietnam’s industrial base will likely affect the international global supply chains that have become heavily reliant on Vietnamese manufacturing. Though 95 percent of businesses operating in Haiphong were expected to resume some activity on September 10, repair efforts will likely lower output for the next weeks and months.
Keenly aware of the humanitarian and economic impact, the Vietnamese government is marshalling resources to respond. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh held a conference on September 8 to direct recovery efforts, working with government agencies and electricity and telecom providers to restore basic services. The Vietnamese government deployed more than 438,000 officials, soldiers, disaster response experts, and volunteers in response to the crisis. In addition, Hanoi is working with Chinese officials on flood control operations. China’s hydropower stations on the upper Red River are storing water in reservoirs to assist in flood control downstream.
The international community has also begun to mobilize aid on Vietnam’s behalf. On September 11, the U.S. Mission to Vietnam announced that it would provide $1 million in immediate humanitarian assistance through USAID. South Korea and Australia have each committed about $2 million in assistance. Meanwhile, the remnants of Yagi continue to cause flooding and landslides across northern Thailand, Laos, and northeastern Myanmar.
Japhet Quitzon is a Research Associate for the Southeast Asia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C.
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