'Linda' kills 130, leaves hundreds missing in Vietnam
'Linda' kills 130, leaves hundreds missing in Vietnam
HANOI (Reuters): At least 130 people were killed and hundreds
of fishermen missing after a typhoon lashed Vietnam's southern
coast, provincial officials said yesterday.
Thousands were left homeless by Typhoon Linda, with the
Vietnamese provinces of Ca Mau, Kien Giang and Ben Tre the
hardest hit.
Linda also killed two people and injured two along Thailand's
southern coast Monday night as it moved toward Bangladesh, but it
lost some of its power and was downgraded to a tropical storm,
Thai government officials reported.
Some 1,800 boats foundered or disappeared as Linda whipped
through Vietnamese coastal provinces Sunday with 100-km (63-mile)
per hour winds, officials said. About 2,000 fishermen may have
been aboard the boats, they added.
At the port of Con Dao Island, where waves up to 15 meters
high were reported, a total of 160 vessels sank. One stricken
vessel spilled 80,000 liters of diesel oil.
Two naval vessels were sent to the island to rescue fishermen,
but one sank on the way.
Rescue teams were searching affected areas for survivors and
trying to get a full count of the dead and injured.
Described by the official media as the most severe storm to
hit Vietnam for more than 100 years, Linda also left a trail of
devastation on land. Figures from various provinces showed more
than 20,000 houses had been destroyed by the high winds and
45,900 hectares of rice fields were flooded.
A rice trader said losses would be limited because harvesting
of the summer-autumn crop had been completed in much of the
affected areas.
Coffee crops, mostly further north in the central highland
provinces, were not harmed, although traders said coffee-growing
areas near Ho Chi Minh City had heavy rain.
Residents of Thailand's southern coastal regions were warned
Monday to move out of flood-prone areas in Linda's path but
damage to property and crops was relatively limited, Thai
officials said.
The storm triggered flash floods in some areas before heading
to the Andaman Sea, striking Myanmar early yesterday as it headed
for Bangladesh.
The hardest hit areas in Thailand were the upper southern
provinces such as Prachuab Khirikhan and Chumporn. Officials said
rubber and coffee plantations in the two areas, as well as
orchards, were devastated.
About 10 fishing trawlers sank while thousands of villagers
were evacuated from flood-prone areas, the officials said.
Other parts of southern Thailand were not badly affected.
Industry sources said rubber plantations and shrimp farms in most
parts of the south were safe.
"There was heavy rain in some areas along the eastern coast of
the south. That might hamper some tapping in the near-term. But
(there was) no substantial damage," said one industry source.