Typhoon Xangsane strikes Vietnam

DANANG – Typhoon Xangsane barrelled into central Vietnam yesterday, forcing hundreds of thousands to flee and cutting electricity and many telephone lines after killing scores of people in the Philippines.

Six people died and 51 people were injured in four provinces, according to the first reports released by the Vietnamese rescue operation. Strong winds uprooted trees and destroyed roofs in the central city of Danang, where the Han river broke its banks for several hours, an AFP journalist witnessed.Air and train travel across the country was disrupted.Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung said authorities evacuated around 300 000 people ahead of the storm, which dumped heavy rains on several heavily-populated areas of central Vietnam, including the region’s popular tourist beach resorts.”I think this will be one of the biggest storms to hit Vietnam in the past few decades,” Le Huy Ngo, head of the steering committee on flood and storm control, told AFP at the rescue centre in Danang.Nampa-AFPStrong winds uprooted trees and destroyed roofs in the central city of Danang, where the Han river broke its banks for several hours, an AFP journalist witnessed.Air and train travel across the country was disrupted.Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung said authorities evacuated around 300 000 people ahead of the storm, which dumped heavy rains on several heavily-populated areas of central Vietnam, including the region’s popular tourist beach resorts.”I think this will be one of the biggest storms to hit Vietnam in the past few decades,” Le Huy Ngo, head of the steering committee on flood and storm control, told AFP at the rescue centre in Danang.Nampa-AFP