TYPHOON SLAMS VIETNAM, KILLING FOUR

>> HA TINH: Shaken residents in central Vietnam were piecing their homes and businesses back together yesterday after a powerful typhoon hammered large swathes of coast and killed at least four people.

Typhoon Doksuri tore through Vietnam on Friday afternoon, reducing structures to piles of debris and knocking out electricity and telecommunications in several provinces, in one of the worst storms to hit the country in years.

Residents woke up yesterday to the widespread destruction i n normally idyllic coastal communities popular among beachgoers.

At least four people were killed and eight injured, according to Vietnam’s Disaster Management Authority.

Some 123,000 homes were damaged and trees and power lines were torn down in five hard-hit provinces, the disaster agency said.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc visited the hard-hit province yesterday to survey the damage.

Nearly 80,000 people were evacuated as the storm bore down while the government deployed a quarter of a million troops and a fleet of vehicles and ships.

Vietnam’s central coast is routinely lashed by storms, especially during tropical storm season from May to October.

It has already been hit by severe weather this year, with 140 people dead or missing in natural disasters since January, according to official figures.

Forecasters warned of a risk of flooding and landslides as the storm swept through central and northern Vietnam, bringing with it heavy rains.