A FLASH flood swept away an entire hamlet in northern Vietnam, killing 22 people and leaving dozens missing as deaths from a typhoon and its aftermath climbed to 141 today.

Vietnamese broadcaster VTV said that the torrent of water gushing down from a mountain in Lao Cai province on Tuesday buried Lang Nu hamlet with 35 families in mud and debris.

Only about a dozen are known so far to have survived. Rescuers have recovered 22 bodies and are continuing the search for about 70 others.

The death toll from Typhoon Yagi and its aftermath has climbed to 141.

Another 69 people are missing and hundreds were injured, VTV said.

Floods and landslides have caused most of the deaths, many of which have come in the north-western Lao Cai province, bordering China, where Lang Nu is located. 

Many roads in the province were blocked by landslides and unrelenting rainfall, said Sapa tour guide Van A Po. The weather has forced them to limit travel with all trekking suspended.

“It is very scary,” he said.

Nguyen Van Luong, who works in a hotel, said he couldn’t return home because the nine-mile road from Sapa to his village was too “badly damaged and landslides could happen anytime.”

On Monday, a bridge collapsed and a bus was swept away by flooding, killing dozens of people.