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HANOI: Typhoon Molave triggered landslides that killed at least 19 people and left 45 missing in central Vietnam, where fierce wind and rain blew off roofs and cut power to a region of 1.7 million residents, state media said Thursday (Oct. 29). .
The landslide victims bring the total death toll from the storm to at least 35, including 12 fishermen whose boats sank on Wednesday as the typhoon approached with winds of up to 150 km / h.
Vietnamese officials say it is the worst typhoon to hit the country in 20 years.
At least 59 people remain missing in the landslides and at sea.
The death toll may rise and many regions are still unable to report the details of the devastation amid stormy weather.
A bulldozer clears a landslide-damaged road to access a town flooded by another landslide in Quang Nam province, Vietnam, Thursday, Oct. 29, 2020. Typhoon Molave crashed into Vietnam with force destructive on Wednesday, sinking two fishing boats with 26 crew members in what was feared to be the most powerful storm to hit the country in 20 years. (Photo: AP / Bui Van Lanh, VNA)
Rescue teams unearthed eight bodies Thursday morning in Tra Van village in south-central Quang Nam province, where a hillside collapsed onto houses.
The victims had taken refuge in the community as the typhoon approached, the official Vietnam news agency reported.
In the village of Tra Leng, about 45 km from Tra Van, another landslide buried a community with several houses occupied by about 45 people. Four managed to escape.
Rescue teams recovered eight bodies and were fighting to save another 37, Vietnam News said.
Tra Leng remains inaccessible due to damaged roads and other landslides, and government disaster response teams were using bulldozers and excavators to open a road and bring in more rescuers and heavy equipment.
A rescuer dives into the mud of a landslide in Quang Nam province, Vietnam, Thursday, October 29, 2020. Vietnam’s state media reported that landslides caused by Typhoon Molave have killed several people and dozens of others disappeared in the central region of the country. (Photo: AP / Pham Khanh Ly, VNA)
Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung traveled to the site where soldiers were cleaning up a landslide with bulldozers and ordered the officers to urgently bring troops to the village affected by the landslide.
“We must get to the site of the landslide in the fastest way. First, send more soldiers before we can get the big machine there. We have to reach the area by all means, including using helicopters, ”he said.
As troops scrambled to rescue those buried alive at Tra Leng, another part of a rain-soaked mountainside cascaded into a torrent of mud in nearby Phuoc Loc district Thursday morning, trapping 11 people.
Three bodies were immediately removed by villagers, Vietnam News said.
Other residents of Phuoc Loc were advised to flee to safety due to the unstable slope of the mountain.
Tree branches broken by the strong winds of Typhoon Molave lie on a deserted street in Danang, Vietnam, Wednesday, October 28, 2020. Typhoon Molave sank some fishing boats as it approached the central coast -South Vietnam on Wednesday morning. (Photo: AP / Vo Van Dung, VNA)
The three areas affected by the landslides are in the mountains of Quang Nam province, a coastal region still reeling from floods that killed 136 people and destroyed hundreds of houses earlier this month.
Four people were killed by falling trees and collapsed houses in Quang Nam and Gia Lai provinces when the typhoon hit the coast on Wednesday.
Navy search and rescue boats found the bodies of 12 of the 26 fishermen whose boats sank on Wednesday off Binh Dinh province, state media said.
The typhoon blew the roofs off some 56,000 houses and caused a massive power outage in Quang Ngai province, where 1.7 million people endured the onslaught of the typhoon overnight in darkness, according to Vietnam News.
At least 40,000 people were evacuated to emergency shelters and authorities closed offices, factories and schools to avoid casualties.
The typhoon left at least 16 people dead in the Philippines before crossing the South China Sea into Vietnam.
