At least 50 Die As Tropical Storm Hits Vietnam
Pastor Dale Morgan
Dec 5, 9:22 AM EST
*At least 55 Die As Tropical Storm Hits Vietnam*
By TRAN VAN MINH
Associated Press Writer
HANOI, Vietnam (AP) -- The typhoon that ravaged the Philippines with
landslides and torrential rain slammed into Vietnam's southern coast
Tuesday as a tropical storm, killing at least 55 people and destroying
thousands of homes.
Tropical Storm Durian, believed to have claimed the lives of more than
1,000 people in the Philippines, blew tin sheets off houses in Vietnam
and caused the collapse of homes in Ba Ria Vung Tau province, some 78
miles southeast of Ho Chi Minh City, that left 23 dead, said Pham Nhat
Quang, an official from the provincial military command.
"The areas where the eye of the storm passed through looked like they
were just bombarded," said Nguyen Van Tu, a local official in another
province where more than 4,000 homes were destroyed.
Philippines President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo ordered stepped-up
recovery efforts as she consoled the families of those killed in
mudslides set loose by the powerful typhoon.
One woman hugged the president, telling her how she saw one of her
children and her husband swept away after they fell from a roof.
Arroyo also visited Guinobatan, one of the worst-hit areas of Albay
province, where entire villages disappeared under tons of mud and
volcanic debris that cascaded down the slopes of the Mayon volcano last
Thursday.
"The search for victims must continue as we tend to the sick and hungry
in the evacuation centers, but we must now also push on the search for
permanent solutions bearing upon the root cause of these grave
calamities," Arroyo said.
At its height, with 165 mph winds and a five-hour deluge, the storm
dislodged tons of debris from the slopes of the Mayon volcano. Walls of
mud and boulders destroyed nearly every standing structure in their path.
Official figures showed 526 dead, 1,000 injured and 740 missing. Sen.
Richard Gordon, head of the Philippines national Red Cross, said he
believed more than 1,000 died in the thousands of homes buried under
volcanic debris, mud and floodwaters.
In Vietnam, where the storm had winds of 73 mph on Tuesday, at least 55
people have died, including three fisherman who drowned Monday when
their boat capsized as the storm approached.
Seventeen people were killed in Ben Tre province, where more than 4,000
houses were destroyed and 26,000 others damaged, provincial governor Cao
Tan Khong said.
Weather forecasters said the storm was expected to continue weakening as
it moved into the Gulf of Thailand on Wednesday morning.