Floods and landslides triggered by Typhoon Lekima that battered Vietnam's central coast earlier this week have claimed at least 32 lives and left 16 others missing, and the death toll could rise, AP quoted disaster officials as saying Saturday. Nine bodies were recovered Saturday in the worst-hit central province of Nghe An, said provincial disaster official Tran Gia Danh. Three more deaths reported in three northern provinces and confirmed reports of three people drowning in the central province of Quang Binh have raised the overall death toll to 32, disaster officials said. «This is the worst flood to hit our province since 1988» Danh said. «We expect the death toll from flooding in the province to rise as communication with some villages remains disrupted.» Danh said authorities are rushing aid to the flood victims. Packing 130 kilometers per hour (80 mph) winds, Typhoon Lekima made landfall late Wednesday in central Ha Tinh and Quang Binh provinces, also leaving 16 people missing and injuring more than 100 others, according to disaster officials and the Department of Floods and Storms Control. Lekima, named after a local fruit, has damaged about 77,000 homes, the department said. It set the initial damage estimate at 659 billion dong (US$41 million; ¤29 million). Vietnam is prone to floods and storms which kill hundreds of people each year.
