Damage, injuries as Vamco hits Vietnam

HANOI – Storm Vamco barrelled into Vietnam today, damaging buildings and injuring at least five people after wreaking devastation in the Philippines.

The storm made landfall this morning with winds of up to 90km per hour (56 mph), according to media reports, uprooting trees and blowing the roofs off houses and schools.

Vamco is the latest in a series of storms that have pummelled Vietnam over the past six weeks causing flooding and landslides that have killed at least 159 people and left 70 others missing.

Initial reports from the Disaster Management Authority today said that five people were injured while they were trying to secure their houses.

Vamco has weakened since hitting the Philippines as a typhoon with winds of up to 155 kph, but state media said it had still caused significant damage, though details were not immediately available.

Authorities evacuated nearly 650,000 people from seven coastal provinces to higher and safer ground before the storm hit to try to reduce casualties.

Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Nguyen Xuan Cuong told the VNExpress news website he hoped the precautions would minimise the storm's impact.

Vamco caused severe damage in the Philippines, causing flooding that affected more than 340,000 people.

Philippine authorities said today the death toll had risen to 67, though floodwaters are now receding, giving hope that the worst could be over.

In Vietnam, weeks of severe weather have damaged or destroyed more than 400,000 homes, according to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

Roads and bridges have been washed away, power supplies disrupted, and crucial food crops destroyed, leaving at least 150,000 people at immediate risk of food shortages. – AFP, November 15, 2020