Death toll rises in Vietnam as parade of tropical systems continues in the South China Sea

The death toll is rising across central Vietnam after multiple tropical systems brought flooding downpours to the country last week. Recovery efforts persist, but the region isn't out of the woods just yet as more tropical activity is expected through week's end.

At least 17 deaths are being blamed on torrential rainfall that plagued central Vietnam last week and over the weekend. However, some reports put the total as high as 23 across the region. This number is expected to increase as rescue and recovery efforts continue.

The death toll for the region rose on Wednesday as Tropical Storm Nangka raced across far southern China. Late in the day on Tuesday, strong winds and rough seas caused a cargo ship to capsize near Zhanjiang, located just north of Hainan Island. Two crew members were found dead, and another four are still missing.

A flooded village is seen in Quang Tri province, Vietnam, on October 12, 2020. Ho Cau/VNA via Reuters

Heavy rainfall first arrived across the central provinces on Monday, Oct. 5, as a tropical low moved over the region. Tropical downpours lingered over the region throughout the week as rainfall totals climbed to staggering heights.

On top of that, a tropical depression formed over the South China Sea on Friday, before strengthening into Tropical Storm Linfa and making landfall in Vietnam over the weekend. This kept torrential rainfall over central Vietnam through the weekend.

Hue, located on the central coast of Vietnam, was one of the hardest-hit cities. A seven-day rainfall total in the city reached 1,893 mm (74.54 inches) of rain deluged the coastal community.

In the region, more than 50,000 people were evacuated to higher ground by local authorities.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APP

While this is the middle of the wet season for Hue, the normal rainfall for the entire month of October is 757 mm (29.80 inches).

In addition to deadly flooding, a mudslide buried 13 construction workers at a hydropower dam in the central province of Thua Thien Hue, reported Al Jazeera.

The next round of rainfall arrived across northern Vietnam as Nangka approached the region Tuesday night, local time. This storm organized into a tropical depression on Sunday to the west of the northern Philippines before reaching tropical storm status on Monday.

Nangka made its first landfall on Tuesday evening as a tropical storm on the southern Chinese island of Hainan. After passing over a small island in the Gulf of Tonkin, Nangka made landfall over northern Vietnam on Wednesday.

While Nangka brought some damaging wind gusts before beginning to lose wind intensity over northern Vietnam, the more widespread threat is expected to be heavy, flooding rainfall.

"The heaviest rainfall of 100-200 mm (4-8 inches) is expected from southwestern Guangdong and Hong Kong to eastern Hainan. Likewise, rainfall this high is likely in parts of northern Vietnam," stated AccuWeather Lead International Meteorologist Jason Nicholls.

An AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 400 mm (16 inches) will be likely in these areas, especially into the higher elevations. Significant flooding is expected across much of this area, especially in areas that received flooding rainfall last week.

As Nangka rapidly weakens over the rugged terrain of northern Vietnam through the end of the week, forecasters will already be monitoring the potential for the next tropical system to develop in the South China Sea.

An area of low pressure currently tracking across the central Philippines has a high potential to develop into an organized tropical system through the second half of the week after it emerges over the South China Sea.

Regardless of development, this storm is forecast to continue tracking west into the weekend, which would bring additional torrential downpours to the hard-hit areas of Vietnam.

AccuWeather meteorologists will continue to monitor the region east of the Philippines into the second half of October, as more tropical development could occur in this area.

Correction: A previous version of this story said a developing storm will continue tracking to the east toward Vietnam. The system will track toward the west.

Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.