Vietnam – Tropical Storm Wipha Leaves 5 Dead, 13 Missing

At least five people have died and 13 others are reported missing after Tropical Storm Wipha swept across northern Vietnam.

On Aug. 2, 2019, the MODIS instrument aboard Aqua captured a visible image of Tropical Storm Wipha in the Gulf of Tonkin, South China Sea, headed for landfall in northern Vietnam. Credit: NASA Worldview, Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS)

The storm made landfall late on 02 August, 2019 in Quang Ninh province, then weakened in to a tropical depression bringing heavy rainfall, including in the capital Hanoi.

According to a statement by Vietnam’s Central Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention, 3 people died and 12 are missing in Thanh Hóa province, where flash flooding has caused severe damage in parts of Quan Son district. Around 20 homes were swept away and 1 person died in the flooding. Two fatalities were also reported in the Muong Lat district of the province. Other fatalities were reported in Bac Kan and Dien Bien provinces.

Wipha also caused flooding and wind damage in parts of Guangxi region and Hainan and Guangdong, provinces in southern China. Haikou, capital of Hainan province, recorded 276.1 mm of rain in 24 hours to 31 July.