Storm death toll in Vietnam rises to 98

Nov 5, 2009, 7:00 GMT

   Hanoi - The death toll from Tropical Storm Mirinae has risen to 98 in central Vietnam, the country's Steering Committee for Storm and Flood Control said Thursday.

   The authority said 20 people were missing and it expected the death toll to continue to rise.

   'Most people were killed by flash floods and some by landslides, collapsing houses or falling trees,' said Dang Thi Lanh of the Storm and Flood Control Committee in Phu Yen province. 'In mountainous areas, the floods rose too fast, and many people did not have time to escape.'

   More than 4,000 troops in amphibious vehicles and helicopters were carrying out search and rescue missions in the wake of Monday's storm.

   Several areas in the provinces of Phu Yen and Binh Dinh remained isolated by floodwaters.

   More than 4,000 passengers also remained stuck on board four trains that were unable to proceed past the town of Tuy Hoa in Phu Yen because of high water.

   Streets in several towns were reportedly under 1.5 to 2 metres of water after rivers overflowed their banks.

   The storm brought winds of up to 133 kilometres per hour and dumped up to 600 millimetres of rain when it came ashore Monday morning in Phu Yen, Binh Dinh, Quang Ngai and Khanh Hoa provinces. It also affected the Central Highland provinces of Gia Lai and Dak Lak, Vietnam's main coffee-growing area.

   National authorities said 94 fishing boats sunk at their wharfs and 754 houses were destroyed while about 17,000 hectares of rice and 2,300 hectares of vegetables were destroyed or flooded.

   Authorities are still warning of continued rain, flash floods and landslides throughout central Vietnam.

   Mirinae was rated as a typhoon when it struck the Philippines over the weekend, killing at least 19 people.

   Authorities said losses in Vietnam were low because residents were still cautious after the experience of Typhoon Ketsana in September.

   Ketsana killed at least 246 people in the Philippines and 172 in Vietnam and caused hundreds of millions of dollars of damage in each country.