Hanoi:
Floods kill 24 in Vietnam as Typhoon Sarika looms and left four others missing, disaster officials said on Monday, as Typhoon Sarika approaches after leaving at least two people dead and displacing more than 150,000 in the Philippines.
In the worst-hit province of Quang Binh, 18 people died and authorities are searching for three others who are missing, disaster official Tran Le Dang Hung said.
Six people died and one was reported missing in threeother central provinces. "We are worried. We have instructed district governments to outline plans for evacuating people from high-risk areas to cope with the Typhoon," Hung said by telephone from QuangBinh.
Heavy rains of up to 90 centimetres on Friday and Saturday submerged 125,000 homes in the region, temporarily disrupted the North-South Highway and damaged infrastructure,crops and fish farms.
Hung said the floods have receded in most areas in QuangBinh. In the Philippines, fast-moving Sarika Typhoon blew outof the northern Philippines on Sunday after leaving at least two people dead and displacing more than 150,000, though the region was spared a major disaster due in part to the storm'sspeed. The Typhoon is over in the South China Sea and was movingat the speed of 15 kilometres to 20 kilometres per hour heading toward northern Vietnam, according to Vietnam's national weather forecast centre.
