Vietnam is estimated to suffer a loss of VND4.9 trillion ($231.13 million) from Storm Wutip, which is the tenth storm to hit Vietnam this year and also the most powerful one over the past six years, according to the Central and Central Highlands office of the Storm and Flood Prevention and Rescue Center. The typhoon caused a landfall in the central province of Quang Binh on Sept 30, leaving five dead and two missing, and injuring 159 others. Over 365 houses collapsed, 161,000 households were unroofed and more than 8,500 hectares of paddy and subsidiary crops were destroyed. The level-12 storm also blew up roofs of hundreds of schools and clinics, and sank over 100 fishing vessels as well as caused large-scale power blackout in some central highlands province such as Quang Tri, Thua Thien-Hue and Dak Nong. During the typhoon, thousands of hectares of rubber Quang Tri and Quang Binh provinces which are in the harvest period were uprooted. Thousands of tourists in Hue and Quang Binh were also stuck as the North-South train route halted operations. By early Oct 1, the storm had weakened to a tropical depression and moved over neighboring Laos, local meteorologists said. Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung put local authorities on high alert for flash floods and landslides in the aftermath of the typhoon as officials battled to clear up the consequences. In recent weeks, floods have killed at least 24 people in Vietnam and claimed at least 30 lives in Cambodia as well as 23 in Thailand. (baotintuc.vn Oct 2, Dau Tu Oct 2 p2, Quan Doi Nhan Dan Oct 2 p4)
