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VIETNAM-PHILIPPINES-WEATHER-STORM
Damage, injuries as Vamco hits Vietnam
HANOI, Nov 15, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Storm Vamco barreled into Vietnam on
Sunday, damaging buildings and injuring at least five people after wreaking
devastation in the Philippines.
The storm made landfall on Sunday morning with winds of up to 90
kilometers 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 pummeled Vietman 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 on Sunday 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 Sunday 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.
BSS/AFP/ARS/1639 hrs