Storm Vamco hits Vietnam while Philippines death toll rises to 67
16 November, 2020
Storm Vamco barrelled into Vietnam on Sunday (Nov 15), damaging buildings and injuring at least five people, as the death toll found in the Philippines climbed to 67.
The storm made landfall on Sunday morning hours with reported winds as high as 90 kilometres per hour (56 mph), uprooting trees and blowing the roofs off houses and schools.
Vamco may be the latest in some storms which may have pummelled Vietnam over the past six weeks, triggering flooding and landslides that have killed in least 159 persons and left 70 others missing.
Initial reports from the Disaster Management Authority in Sunday said that five people were injured while these were trying to secure their houses.
Vamco has weakened since hitting the Philippines as a good typhoon with winds as high as 155 kph, but state media said it had still caused significant damage.
Pictures showed seafront restaurants in the tourist hotspot of Hoi A great - a good UNESCO world heritage site - ripped apart by the storm, and huge trees uprooted found in the old imperial city of Hue.
Authorities evacuated nearly 650,000 persons from seven coastal provinces to raised and safer ground before the storm hit, but on Sunday warned of the danger of landslides triggered by the major rains.
Vamco was first the deadliest storm to hit the Philippines this year, killing at least 67 persons across the key island of Luzon in recent days and affecting some 1.7 million around the united states.
The storm triggered some of the worst flooding in years, swamping villages, destroying crops and leaving thousands without power.
Rescue clubs and emergency supplies including food were dispatched to the northeast Philippines in Saturday where swathes of the spot were inundated. The problem was compounded by the release of water from a dam.
Vice President Leni Robredo said Sunday that the waters were now receding after visiting Cagayan province, giving hope that the worst could be over for the storm-battered country.
"Situation is so far better. Various areas still flooded but water receded previously," Robredo tweeted.
In Vietnam, weeks of severe weather have damaged or destroyed a lot more than 400,000 homes, in line with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
Roads and bridges have already been washed away, power products disrupted, and crucial food crops destroyed, leaving in least 150,000 persons at immediate threat of food shortages.
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