Three people were reported killed in central Vietnam on Monday as a tropical storm lashed the coast, officials said.
Military units were on alert and fishing boats had been called to shore ahead of the storm, which was the first tropical cyclone to directly hit Vietnam this year.
On Monday, 15-year-old Tran Van Thin was swept away in central Quang Tri proinve as he was gathering driftwood from a river to use for firewood, according to a report from the provincial flood and storm committee.
In nearby Ha Tinh province, an unidentified student drowned after floodwaters overwhelmed his path on the way home from school, according to storm officials there. Heavy rains ahead of the storm caused floods on Sunday that swept away Nguyen Kich (36) in Quang Nam province.
The storm, which hit at about 3pm local time Monday afternoon, had wind speeds of up to 74kph and had moved quickly from a tropical depression to a storm close to in Vietnamese waters, according to Vietnamese weather forecasters.
Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung sent an ”urgent message” on Monday to seven central provinces to call boats ashore.
The provinces are: Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Quang Nam, Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Ha Tinh and Quang Ngai.
Vietnam’s storm-response system was caught off guard in May when Typhoon Chanchu abruptly changed course and swept away more than 200 Vietnamese fishermen, who had not been warned. The deaths prompted calls for a more vigorous warning system.
There were no immediate reports of evacuations, but officials in central provinces said they were standing by to launch rescues in case of floods and landslides.
”Military forces have been deployed to coastal areas and are standing by,” said Ngo Duc Hoi, deputy head of the Ha Tinh provincial Flood and Storm Department. — Sapa-dpa