Toraji storm kills 12 in Vietnam, 5 missing

Hanoi: At least 12 people have died and five others remain missing in the southern Vietnamese beach resort city of Nha Trangafter a tropical storm lashed the coast, authorities said on Monday.

Among the dead were two people, including a seven-year-old boy, who were killed when the wall of a noodle restaurant collapsed early on Sunday, the Central Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control said in a report published on Monday, adding that 11 others were injured.

The Toraji storm system, which was downgraded to a tropical depression on Sunday morning, arrived in Vietnam around 6 pm on Saturday, packing winds at 60 to 75 km per hour and gusts of wind moving up to 100 km per hour.

It has brought heavy rains throughout the southern region, according to the National Center for Hydro-meteorological Forecasting. Some areas received rainfall of up to 407 millimetres in the past three days, causing heavy floods.

Floodwaters reached up to 2.35 metres in Nha Trang, catching many commuters off-guard. Authorities are braced for more flash floods, as well as landslides,as rains continue. Last week, flash floods and landslides had killed at least 12 people in central Vietnam, officials said on Sunday, as hundreds of troops were dispatched to clean up destroyed villages and washed out roads.

Heavy rains pounded the central Khanh Hoa province over the past few days as tropical depression Toraji blew in from the South China Sea.