HANOI, July 29 (Xinhua) -- Typhoon Mirinae, which made landfall in northern Vietnam on Wednesday night, has left four dead, eight injured and one missing as of Friday morning.
Local Bao Giao Thong (Transport News) online newspaper on Friday quoted authorities of northern Nam Dinh province as confirming that after typhoon Mirinae hit the province, three people were killed because of falling electricity poles.
Earlier on Thursday, strong gales and torrential rain triggered by the typhoon left one dead in Vietnam's capital Hanoi.
In addition to four deaths, the typhoon has left eight injured (five in Hanoi and other three in northern Thai Nguyen province) as well as one missing in central Thanh Hoa province, said Tran Quang Hoai, deputy director of the General Department of Irrigation, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) said on local VNExpress online newspaper on Friday.
During the typhoon, over 1,400 houses were unroofed and damaged, 12 boats sunken. Over 196,000 hectares of rice and nearly 21,000 hectares of crop were flooded. Over 5,000 trees were uprooted, with most in Hanoi. Power was cut from Wednesday night in all Nam Dinh, Thai Binh and Ninh Binh provinces.
Nam Dinh is the hardest hit by the typhoon Mirinae. Across the province, some 86,300 hectares of rice and crop were flooded, 130 hectares of seafood aquaculture swept away, six dikes breached, and 14,900 electricity poles fell, reported VNExpress.
According to Hoai, the storm has caused remarkable damage.
Hoang Duc Cuong, director of the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting (NCHMF) said that from around 21:00-22:00 local time on Wednesday (14:00-15:00 GMT), the storm made landfall on Nam Dinh province, and then changed its direction to head for the northwest provinces.
"Normally, while making landfall and encountering friction, storms will 'jump' and travel very fast. However, the Mirinae traveled slowly and mostly remained its intensity level of 8-9 and shock level of 10-13. Sometime, during a few hours, the storm did not move, causing strong gales and huge damage," Cuong said.
Vietnam's MARD Minister Nguyen Xuan Cuong said Mirinae is a storm causing enormous damage to the country's infrastructure and agricultural production.
The MARD chief instructed relevant agencies to continue monitoring development of the storm, urging the electricity sector to soon resume power in affected areas, especially in large pumping stations and public service buildings.
