The storm swept through northern Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Myanmar in early September and has killed more than 500 people across the region so far, according to official figures. It triggered severe floods and mudslides in Myanmar, leaving at least 226 dead as whole villages were wrecked.  With hundreds of thousands of acres of crops destroyed, the UN also warned that more than half a million people in the war-torn country are in urgent need of food as well as drinking water, shelter and clothes.