One dead as tropical storm hits Vietnam

Tropical Storm Nock-ten, which left more than 50 people dead as it swept through the Philippines, killed one person when it hit northern Vietnam, an official said Sunday. The storm arrived late Saturday in the provinces of Thanh Hoa and Nghe An, where 40,000 people had been evacuated in advance, but one man was killed when electric poles were pulled down in the bad weather. "A 68-year-old man died by electrocution in the Anh Son district of Nghe An province," said an official at the national flood and storm control committee. The storm's consequences were described as "not considerable" by Nguyen Xuan Hung, head of the office dealing with natural disasters in Nghe An, after Nock-ten arrived weaker than it had been in the Philippines. Vietnam's flood and storm season, which can last until late October, claims hundreds of lives every year and causes huge material losses. At least 22 people were killed during heavy rain and storms in the north in June, officials said, including 12 who were struck by lightning while working in rice fields. The toll in the Philippines from Nock-ten, named after a Laotian bird, rose to 52 dead and 27 missing as more reports came in from storm-hit provinces in the archipelago, officials there said Sunday. Most of those killed were said to be drowned or buried in landslides, while virtually all of the missing were fishermen who vanished at sea when the storm hit from Tuesday to Thursday.