Floods in wake of Typhoon Matmo leave 18 dead or missing, cause $207M in damage for Vietnam

By VNA October 10, 2025 | 08:29 pm PT

The center of Thai Nguyen Province is flooded following Typhoon Matmo rainfall on the morning of Oct. 8, 2025. Photo by Duy Khac

Flooding triggered by torrential rains following Typhoon Matmo has caused extensive damage across northern Vietnam, leaving 18 people dead or missing, hundreds of thousands of homes inundated, and infrastructure severely damaged.

As of Friday evening, preliminary reports from the affected localities estimated total losses at more than VND5.45 trillion (US$207 million).

Thai Nguyen Province suffered the heaviest damage at around VND2.4 trillion, followed by Cao Bang with VND2 trillion and Lang Son with VND1.05 trillion, according to the Disaster and Dyke Management Authority under the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment.

Downpour submerged over 230,000 houses, with Thai Nguyen accounting for the majority, 200,000. Other severely affected areas include Bac Ninh (11,061 houses), Cao Bang (7,500), Hanoi (8,186), and Lang Son (3,000). By Friday afternoon, nearly 66,650 houses remained underwater, including over 54,000 in Thai Nguyen.

Approximately 25,261 hectares of rice and other crops were inundated or destroyed. Floods also killed or swept away more than 13,000 livestock and over 690,000 poultry, seriously affecting the livelihoods of local residents.

In Lang Son Province, the Bac Khe 1 hydropower dam, storing about 4 million cubic meters of water and having an output of 2MW, broke as the water level surged. Thanks to timely warnings and prompt response, authorities safely evacuated 803 households before the incident.

Transport infrastructure suffered widespread disruption, with 20 points along national highways eroded or submerged, causing traffic blockages. Thai Nguyen reported eight such sites, while Hanoi and Bac Ninh each had four. The Hanoi – Dong Dang railway was temporarily suspended. Numerous rural roads were also cut off, hampering rescue operations and the delivery of essential supplies.

In the power and telecommunications sectors, nearly 550,000 customers in Thai Nguyen, Bac Ninh, Cao Bang, and Lang Son experienced outages. Power has been restored for about 421,000 customers while around 128,600 remain without electricity, nearly 58,000 of them in Thai Nguyen. Some data and public telecommunications networks were also disrupted, with 125 BTS stations down in Thai Nguyen, though services at 13 BTS stations in Hanoi have been restored.

Local authorities continue to assess damage and mobilize resources to support affected communities in recovery and reconstruction efforts, said the authority.