Storm leaves 22 dead in Vietnam (Roundup)

Hanoi - The death toll from Tropical Storm Mirinae in central Vietnam has risen to 22, the country's National Search and Rescue Committee reported Tuesday evening. Troops using boats and helicopters were rescuing locals trapped on the roofs of houses in central Phu Yen province into the evening, Vietnam Television reported. Streets in several towns were reportedly submerged in 1.5 to 2 metres of water after rivers overflowed their banks. Naval authorities in the city of Danang said a Cambodian freighter, the Lucky Star, disappeared off the coast after broadcasting a distress signal Monday night, Vietnam News Agency reported. The crew of eight Myanmar and four Chinese seamen are missing. The storm brought winds of 133 kilometres per hour (kph) and dumped up to 600 millimetres of rain when it came ashore Monday morning in the central provinces of Phu Yen, Binh Dinh, Quang Ngai and Khanh Hoa. Vietnam's Steering Committee for Flood and Storm Control said a total of 27 fishing boats were sunk at wharfs. More than 900 hectares of rice and 830 hectares of vegetables were destroyed or flooded. Some reports indicated the rains had spoiled the drying of coffee in Vietnam's Central Highlands. But a storm official in the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak said the coffee industry had not been much affected. Vietnam Airlines said it cancelled 34 flights to and from central Vietnam on Monday, affecting about 2,000 passengers. The storm had reportedly weakened to a tropical low pressure zone by Tuesday morning, and was heading west with wind speeds down to 20- 25 kph. Vietnam evacuated over 27,000 people from storm-affected areas to evade landslides. Authorities had warned 18,000 fishing boats carrying 104,000 fishermen to take shelter in advance of the storm. Mirinae was rated as a typhoon when it struck the Philippines over the weekend, killing at least 19 people. Elsewhere in Vietnam, six forestry workers were reported drowned and 13 were lucky to survive after their boat was hit by a tornado Monday in the Gulf of Tonkin. The workers were on their way to plant trees on an island off the northern province of Quang Ninh. Authorities said losses in Vietnam were low because residents were still cautious after the experience of Typhoon Ketsana in September. Ketsana killed at least 246 people in the Philippines and 172 in Vietnam, and caused hundreds of millions of dollars of damage in each country.