Tropical storm Nangka spares Hong Kong but leaves dozens dead in Vietnam and Cambodia
- Flooding has killed at least 28 people in Vietnam and 11 in Cambodia, where almost 25,000 houses and 84,000 hectares of crops have been damaged
- Nangka did not hit Hong Kong directly but authorities nonetheless issued a No 8 signal, the third-highest
Since early October, heavy rains have caused deadly floods and landslides in several provinces in central Vietnam and displaced thousands of people in western Cambodia, officials and state media said.
The floods were expected to intensify in coming days, with tropical storm Nangka forecast to dump more rain as it makes landfall in Vietnam on Wednesday.
Nangka, packing wind speeds of up to 100km/h will trigger heavy rain of up to 400mm in parts of northern and central Vietnam from Wednesday to Friday, its weather agency said.
Ongoing flooding has killed at least 28 people in Vietnam, and 11 in Cambodia, where almost 25,000 houses and 84,000 hectares of crops have been damaged, according to local media.
Vietnamese disaster management authorities said over 130,000 houses have been impacted.
Seventeen construction workers were missing following a landslide at the site of a hydropower dam project in the central Vietnamese province of Thua Thien Hue, state media reported.
Hong Kong Observatory planning to downgrade No 8 typhoon signal by 8pm
An additional 13 people sent to rescue the workers are also missing, the state-run Nhan Dan newspaper reported on Tuesday.
Vietnam’s Prime Minister, Nguyen Xuan Phuc, has instructed the defence ministry to send more rescue troops to the site of the landslide, according to a government statement.
As of Tuesday morning they were unable to reach the site, the statement added, because of high water levels, heavy rains, and additional landslides.
