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Floods hitting northern provinces

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Death toll rises to 127, with 54 missing

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Authorities restrict traffic on Red River bridges

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Soldiers mobilised to evacuate, support flood victims

(Recasts, adds details)

By Khanh Vu and Phuong Nguyen

HANOI, Sept 10 (Reuters) - The death toll in Vietnam

from Asia's worst storm this year reached 127 on Tuesday, with

torrents of rain triggering floods and landslides, burying

homes, sweeping away a bridge and now threatening the capital

Hanoi.

In several northern provinces, including the suburbs of

Hanoi, residents waded through knee-high floods. Brown water

cascaded down pedestrian steps.

Landslides and floods triggered by the typhoon have killed

at least 127 people in northern Vietnam and 54 others were

missing, the disaster management agency said on Tuesday in its

latest update on the situation.

Most of the victims were killed in landslides and flash

floods, the agency said, adding that 764 people have been

injured.

The typhoon made landfall on Saturday on Vietnam's

northeastern coast, devastating a swathe of industrial and

residential areas and bringing heavy rain that caused floods and

landslides. It had previously hit the Philippines and the

southern Chinese island of Hainan.

"I have to leave everything behind as the water is rising

too fast," said Nguyen Thi Tham, a 60-year-old resident living

in the flood-prone area near the Red River in Hanoi, by phone.

She had only been able to take her dog with her.

She was among a number of people evacuated by boat to a safe

shelter early on Tuesday. It was not immediately clear how many

Hanoi residents needed to be evacuated.

Several rivers in northern Vietnam have risen to alarming

levels, leaving villages and residential areas inundated,

according to the disaster agency and state media.

A 30-year-old bridge over the Red River in the northern

province of Phu Tho collapsed on Monday, leaving eight people

missing.

Authorities across the north on Tuesday subsequently banned

or limited traffic on other bridges across the river, including

Chuong Duong Bridge, one of the largest in Hanoi, according to

state media reports.

"Water levels on the Red River are rising rapidly," the

government said on Tuesday in a post on its Facebook account.

LOUDSPEAKER WARNINGS

Using loudspeakers that broadcast Communist propaganda in

the past, officials warned residents of the capital's riverside

Long Bien district to be on alert for possible flooding, and to

be ready to evacuate the area.

Other northern areas, including the industrial hubs of Bac

Giang and Thai Nguyen, were also facing severe flooding, state

media reported. It was not immediately clear if Samsung

Electronics ( SSNLF ) and Apple ( AAPL ) supplier Foxconn, based in Thai Nguyen and

Bac Giang, respectively, were affected.

Evacuations were also taking place from flood-prone areas in

Bac Giang province, the government said, where the typhoon and

floods have caused damage estimated for now to be worth 300

billion dong ($12.1 million).

More than 4,600 soldiers have been deployed in the province

to support the evacuation and support flood victims.

Vietnam's foreign ministry asked China to notify it ahead of

any release of dam water upstream.

Lao Cai province has reported the highest casualties, with

19 people killed and 36 missing, mostly in landslides, according

to the disaster management agency.

The government has yet not provided estimates of the cost of

the damage caused by the typhoon, but residents in the coastal

cities of Haiphong and Quang Ninh, where the storm first hit

Vietnam, said they "lost everything".

Floods have also inundated 162,828 hectares and 29,543

hectares of cash crops and damaged nearly 50,000 houses in

northern Vietnam, according to the agency.

($1 = 24,665 dong)