At least 11 people were killed and 10 injured in the aftermath of typhoon Kalmaegi passing through the northern and central provinces over the last four days, the Central Steering Committee on Flood and Storm Prevention reported on September 18.

Eight of the victims died in Lang Son province, while an 8-month-old baby died in Ha Giang province when a house collapsed and a four-year-old boy in Phu Luong district in Thai Nguyen province was swept away by floods. Another death was reported in the northern central province of Nghe An.

Ten people were injured by the storm in the northern city of Hai Phong, and the provinces of Lang Son and Nghe An. A 46-year-old woman is still missing after being swept away by floods in Thai Nguyen province.

The storm caused huge economic losses and seriously affected agriculture and aquaculture farming in the localities it swept through.

A total of 33 houses collapsed and 815 buildings lost their roofs. Meanwhile, approximately 42,743ha of rice fields and more than 10,000ha of fruit and vegetable crops were damaged, whilst thousands of hectares of farmland were inundated during the storm.

The storm also felled thousands of trees and a number of power poles in storm affected localities.

The Vietnam Red Cross Society pledged to support the families of the deceased in the northern mountainous province of Lang Son with 3 million VND (141 USD). The Lang Son Red Cross Society provided 2 million VND (94 USD) to each family.

Nguyen Dinh Hop, director of the Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting in Ha Giang province said the torrential rains triggered by the storm had caused the Lo River to swell, resulting in heavy floods.

The National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting issued a warning on September 18 that water levels in rivers in the north would continue to rise.

The northern mountainous provinces of Lao Cai, Ha Giang, Tuyen Quang and Thai Nguyen have been put on high alert for landslides and flash floods over the next few days.-VNA