Nari, the eleventh tropical storm hitting Vietnam this year, has caused a total loss of VND3 trillion ($141.5 million) for the central coastal region as of Oct 20, according to the Central Committee for Flood and Storm Control. The storm left 22 deaths, two missing and 116 injuries in ten provinces after making landfall in the Danang City and Quang Nam province on Oct 15. The powerful typhoon also submerged over 87,000 houses, unroofed 587 schools and damaged 7,800 hectares of paddy and subsidiary crop, the committee added. The storm also forced ten hydropower plants in the central region to halt operations and made Vietnam Airlines to cancel 44 flights to central airports, severely affecting production activities and the tourism sector. The prices of building materials and farm produce such as sugar and rubber are predicted to rise sharply in the region. In late September, the tenth storm Wutip caused a total loss of VND11 trillion ($523.8 million) to the central region. The storm killed 14 people and injured 225 others. (An Ninh Thu Do – Capital Security Oct 21 p2)
