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At least 34 people have died and 17 more were missing and feared
dead after a tropical storm lashed Vietnam, officials said
Wednesday as downpours continued across central provinces.
Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Pabuk triggered landslides that killed
at least 11 people in the Philippines this week before blowing
across southern Taiwan's tip Wednesday.
Vietnam's central province of Ha Tinh province suffered the
worst with 13 deaths, of those six were children. Another victim
was reported missing said Trinh Nhu Tien, a provincial disaster
official.
"It is still raining heavily in the mountains. The death toll
could rise if the weather does not improve in the next few
days,'' the official said, adding that several parts of the
province were still isolated with no electricity and telephone
links.
The bodies of four more drowning victims were recovered Tuesday
in Daklak, increasing the Central Highland province death toll to
11, while nine others swept away in the floods remained missing,
said provincial official Phan Thi Thu Hien.
In Lam Dong province, flash floods killed at least four people
while a 13-year-old boy was killed by a falling tree, provincial
official Duong Thanh Hung said.
Four people also died in Nghe An, Phu Yen and Gia Lai.
A rescue worker in Quang Binh was killed yesterday while he was
trying to help people to escape from the deep water. Five others
were missing and feared dead, said Nguyen Ngoc Giai, a provincial
disaster official.
Floods continued to isolate three districts, but casualties were
expected because the floodwaters were "very very deep'', Giai
said.
"This is the worst flood I have seen in my life. We have had to
mobilize hundreds of military and police officers for rescue
efforts, food and medicine relief,'' he said.
The tropical storm was downgraded to a depression on Monday, but
heavy rains continued, the national weather center said.
Pabuk bolstered monsoon rains across the Philippines, causing a
landslide that buried seven houses and killed at least 10 people
Monday in the southern gold mining town of Maco in Compostela
Valley province, according to Glenn Rabonza, administrator of the
government's Office of Civil Defense.
At least 80 residents were evacuated from their homes due to
fears of more landslides in the hilly area, Rabonza said.
Pabuk, along with a new storm brewing off the country's
northeast coast, brought more rains overnight, triggering another
landslide that buried a house and killed a 9-year-old boy in the
northern mountain resort city of Baguio at dawn Wednesday, the
National Disaster Coordinating Council said.
Heavy rains flooded many Manila streets, forcing schools to
close and stranding commuters, officials said.
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