Flooding from Vietnam typhoon kills 23
HANOI - Floods and landslides triggered by a typhoon that struck Vietnam's central coast earlier this week have claimed 23 lives and left nine others missing, disaster officials said Saturday.
Three more deaths reported in three northern provinces and confirmed reports of three people drowning in the central province of Quang Binh have raised the death toll to 23, disaster official Nguyen Ngoc Dien said.
Packing 80 mph winds, Typhoon Lekima made landfall late Wednesday in central Ha Tinh and Quang Binh provinces, also leaving nine people missing and injuring more than 100 others, according to disaster officials and the Department of Floods and Storms Control.
Lekima, named after a local fruit, has damaged about 77,000 homes, the department said. It set the initial damage estimate at $41 million.
Vietnam is prone to floods and storms which kill hundreds of people each year.
By Tran Van Minh - The Associated Press - October 5, 2007.
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