DANANG, Vietnam, Oct 3 - Typhoon Xangsane killed at least 120 people in the
Philippines and Vietnam, left tens of thousands homeless and caused millions of
dollars damage, officials said on Tuesday.
The typhoon swept fierce winds and rain into Vietnam's central coast at the
weekend after leaving a trail of destruction in the northern and central
Philippines, including the capital, Manila.
Vietnamese officials said at least 40 died and four were missing in several
central provinces and the resort city of Danang, Vietnam's fourth largest city
of about 1 million, which took the brunt of the typhoon when it hit on Sunday.
The typhoon ripped off roofs, felled trees and power lines and blew down
houses.
A fisherman in Danang told Reuters Television of his anguish at being unable
to save his brother, whose body was found on Tuesday.
"The waves were so big. I saw my brother's ship flipped but the wind was so
strong I couldn't dare to save him because I could certainly die too," said
Nguyen Khue, older brother of Nguyen Phung, a squid fisherman.
An official at the Danang Flood and Storm Control Committee
said 22 people died in Danang and four were missing. She said the accounting
for the dead was not yet complete.
The committee said 6,256 houses collapsed, more than 220,000 were damaged and
almost 41,000 were still submerged. It estimated storm damage at nearly 5
trillion dong (around $300 million).
State-run Vietnam Television reported 3,000 people injured across the central
region.
Typhoon Xangsane, which means "elephant" in the Lao language, killed 78
people and injured 81 in the Philippines, disaster officials said on Tuesday. A
further 69 people were missing after the typhoon ripped through the archipelago
last week.
A police spokesman said the toll could climb close to 150 and the government
estimated damage of at least 1.3 billion pesos ($26 million) to property,
infrastructure, crops and fisheries.
The storm weakened after crossing into Vietnam and moved west across Laos and
into Thailand.
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