At least 106 dead after strongest typhoon in 16 years strikes southern Vietnam

Damrey, the strongest typhoon to make landfall in southern Vietnam in 16 years, has left at least 106 people dead with hundreds of homes destroyed.

Damrey made landfall in southern Vietnam, near Nha Trang, with the equivalent strength of a Category 2 hurricane in the eastern Pacific or Atlantic oceans.

Not since Lingling in November 2001 has a typhoon that strong struck Vietnam south of Qui Nhon.

Damrey has left at least 106 people dead and nearly 200 others injured across central and southern Vietnam, according to Reuters.

Homes were damaged and destroyed. More 80,000 homes have sustained damage. Hundreds of electricity poles were knocked down as trees were uprooted.

While the most destructive winds targeted Nha Trang and surrounding communities, the threat for flooding and mudslides expanded over a much larger area as heavy rain spread northward across central Vietnam and into the neighboring mountains of Laos.

Rainfall topped 130 mm (5.10 inches) in Nha Trang, while nearly 255 mm (10 inches) of rain inundated Qui Nhon in the 24 hours ending Saturday evening, local time.

Farther north, Da Nang recorded 102 mm (4.02 inches) during the same time frame. Da Nang is hosting world leaders during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, being held from Nov. 8 to 10.

Before it became a tropical storm and was named Damrey, the cyclone unleashed more than 300 mm (12 inches) of rain on parts of northern Visayas and southern Luzon in the Philippines earlier in the week.

At least two people died in a landslide, according to The Manila Times.

There has now been two Typhoon Damreys to turn deadly in Vietnam. In September 2005, a typhoon of the same name triggered landslides and flooding in northern Vietnam. At least 57 people were killed, according to reports from AFP.

The majority of the lives were claimed in the hard-hit province of Yen Bai.

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