HANOI, Oct. 3 (Xinhuanet) -- Typhoon Damrey, which hit Vietnam's northern and central regions last week, has killed or left missinga total of 68 local people, and injured 22 others, local newspaper Young People reported Monday.

    Northern Yen Bai province suffered the most serious human loss with 51 people being reported dead or missing due to flash floods sparked by Damrey, the biggest typhoon in Vietnam over the past nine years, which started striking the regions on Tuesday.

    The typhoon also destroyed more than 300,000 hectares of rice and subsidiary crops, damaged nearly 22,000 shrimp and fish ponds,and inundated some 100,000 houses in the country, causing an estimated property loss of roughly 3.3 trillion Vietnamese dong (VND) (208.9 million US dollars).

    Last year, natural disasters killed 232 people and left 38 missing, injured 187 others, destroyed 4,200 houses and 3,000 hectares of rice, and killed over 2,000 cattle and 170,000 poultry in Vietnam, causing a property loss of over 900 billion Vietnamese dong (some 57 million US dollars). Enditem