World news – California – Vietnam braces for Typhoon Famco, 53 dead in the Philippines

HANOI / MANILA (Reuters) – Vietnam was preparing for Hurricane Famco to land in the central coast of the country early Sunday, as the death toll in the Philippines rose to 53 from the country’s heaviest storm this year.

The state meteorological agency said on Saturday that winds of up to 165 kilometers per hour (103 miles per hour) were expected to hit FAMCO vast swaths of the Vietnamese coast from Ha Tinh to Quang Ngai province..

“It is a very strong hurricane,” Prime Minister Nguyen Chuan Fook said, warning provinces in the expected path for FAMCO to prepare for its impact.

State media quoted the government’s Disaster Management Authority as saying that the provinces are planning to evacuate 468,000 people by the end of Saturday.

Vietnam is vulnerable to destructive storms and floods due to the length of its coastline. FAMCO will be the thirteenth storm to affect the Southeast Asian country this year, with more than 160 people killed in natural disasters triggered by a series of storms since early October.. .

“There was no rest period for the more than eight million people living in central Vietnam,” said Nguyen Thi Xuan Tho, president of the Vietnamese Red Cross Society.. Every time they set out to rebuild their lives and livelihoods, they are exposed to another storm.

In the Philippines, Coast Guard and disaster agencies scrambled on Saturday to save thousands in a northern province after Typhoon 21 that struck the Philippines this year struck the main island of Luzon late on Wednesday and Thursday morning.. .

FAMCO killed at least 53 people, 52 injured, and 22 missing in the Philippines, according to Philippine police and military. .

Reported by Khanh Phu of Hanoi and Neil Jerome Morales in Manila; Edited by William Mallard.

All quotes are at least 15 minutes late. See here for a complete list of exchanges and delays.

Philippines, typhoon, tropical cyclone, flood