Tropical Storm Kills 2 in Vietnam

Tropical storm Wukong slammed into Vietnam’s midsection over the weekend, killing two people and leaving more than 10,000 homeless, an official said Monday.

Heavy rains and winds reaching 69 mph hit central Ha Tinh province early Sunday, destroying about 3,500 houses, said Bui Hong Phong of the provincial flood and storm control bureau.

A telephone company employee was washed away by a flash flood and another person was killed when his house collapsed, Phong said. Twenty-nine people were injured.

Weather forecasters said heavy rains are likely to continue in the central provinces.

Local authorities are sending delegations to the affected areas to assess damage. They will give $70 to families who lost their homes and $35 to those whose homes were damaged, Phong said.

Meanwhile, tens of thousands of people were still being evacuated in the flood-stricken Mekong Delta provinces in the south.