Ten others wounded and nearly 7,000 homes damaged after Kajiki batters Vietnam with fierce winds and torrential rains. 

At least three people have been killed in Vietnam after Typhoon Kajiki battered northern and central areas of the country, bringing fierce winds and torrential rains that collapsed homes, felled trees and turned streets in the capital, Hanoi, into rivers. 

The storm, which made landfall in Vietnam on Monday with winds of up to 130 kilometres per hour (80 miles per hour), also left at least 13 people wounded, authorities said on Tuesday. 

It has now crossed into Laos and weakened into a tropical depression. 

Vietnam’s government, in a statement, said Kajiki damaged nearly 7,000 homes, inundated 28,800 hectares (71,166 acres) of rice plantings and felled some 18,000 trees. It also brought down 331 electricity poles, causing widespread blackouts in Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Thai Nguyen and Phu Tho provinces. 

The country’s national weather agency forecast continued downpours through Tuesday, with some areas likely to get up to 150 millimetres (6 inches) of rain in six hours, potentially causing flash floods and landslides. 

In Hanoi, local media reported that continued heavy rains have caused widespread flooding, submerging streets, stalling vehicles and snarling traffic. 

According to VnExpress, the floodwaters on National Highway 6, which links Hanoi with northwestern provinces, reached nearly 1 metre (3.3 feet) in some places, stalling cars and motorbikes. 

“It was impossible to move around this morning. My front yard is also flooded,” Nguyen Thuy Lan, 44, told the AFP news agency.