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| Typhoon Xangsane Hits Central Vietnam |
| Another tropical low pressure is forming off the Philippines |
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Tran Van Loi (loitran)  |
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Published 2006-10-02 11:55 (KST) |
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At 10 a.m. local time, the Typhoon Xangsane made landfall on the central city of Da Nang and neighboring Quang Nam province, killing three, injuring 100 and causing much damage to the infrastructure in the region.
After hitting the mainland, the typhoon weakened and downgraded to a tropical storm. According to the Central Meteorological Office of Vietnam, the storm's eye left Vietnam and entered Laos early this afternoon.
Da Nang, the fourth largest city in Vietnam with more than 1 million people, is the hardest hit by the typhoon, the most powerful to hit the city since 1975. About 5,500 buildings lost their roofs, hundreds of houses were destroyed. Traffic in the city was severely affected due to uprooted trees and fallen electric and telecommunication poles. Electricity and running water have been cut and communication is difficult.
As of 4 p.m. local time, 4 people had died and nearly 100 had been injured. Some 130 people have been hospitalized at the Da Nang City Hospital. Most were injured by flying roofs and falling trees. The Han River rose sharply, flooding a large area of the city. Many boats anchored at safe ports were swamped by the high waves.
Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung, who is in Da Nang, said in an interview, "The most worrisome issue is the rising floodwaters in rivers and the risk of landslides in the mountains around here."
The storm also devastated the nearby ancient imperial capital of Hue to the north and the United Nations cultural heritage site of Hoi An to its south.
According to the chairman of the Hue People's Committee, Nguyen Xuan Ly, the Huong River was rising, threatening to flood the city. About 3,500 homes were destroyed or lost all or parts of their roofs.
In the town at Hoi An, the roofs of many houses were torn off and blown away; many ships anchored at port have been damaged because of the high waves.
Flooding, fallen trees and landslides have blocked some sections of the national highway, 1A.
The national carrier Vietnam Airlines has canceled nearly all domestic flights. International flights were re-routed around the storm. Many trains from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City and vice versa have been canceled.
Czech President Vaclav Klaus, who is on a five-day visit to Vietnam, canceled his trip to the world cultural heritage site of Hoi An.
Thanks to the extensive preventive measures taken, the loss of life in typhoon Xangsane seems to be relatively low at this time. Before the typhoon hit mainland, Vietnamese authorities had evacuated more than 200,000 local people to safety, the biggest evacuation in the last 30 years. Authorities were blamed for not taking appropriate action in the Chanchu storm in May, when 267 people, mostly fishermen, were killed or unaccounted for. This time, they tried to avoid a repeat of that mistake.
However, authorities warned about the potential loss of life due to landslides and floods, especially after the storm.
"Losses are big, but I'm afraid that there will be more and more losses," Hung said on state TV from Da Nang.
On international weather forecasts, a tropical low pressure is forming in the area where typhoon Xangsane had formed. Meteorologists expressed concern about this low pressure as it tended to gain strength and was approaching the Philippines. If it develops into a tropical storm and enters the South China Sea, it will be really bad news for the Vietnamese people. They must prepare to respond to the new storm while doing their utmost to overcome the damage caused by Xangsane.
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©2006 OhmyNews
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