AlQa'dah 14, 1434, September 20, 2013, SPA -- Typhoon Usagi killed three people and left 13 missing in Vietnam, authorities said Friday, as the Philippines and Taiwan braced for torrential rains from the powerful cyclone. The three dead were swept away by floodwater, dpa quoted Vietnam's Central Steering Committee for Storm and Flood Control as saying on Friday. Among the missing were five passengers, including two children, of a car swept off the road in Nghe An province on Thursday. Floods and landslides destroyed nearly 5,000 houses and inundated almost 6,000 hectares of rice and vegetable crops. Usagi is the eighth tropical storm to hit Vietnam this year. Floods and landslides have killed at least 30 people in northern Vietnam this month. Weather bureaus in the Philippines and Taiwan issued alerts Friday against Usagi, which was packing maximum winds of 205 kilometres per hour (kph) and gusts of up to 240 kph. In the Philippines, the weather bureau issued its highest alert level over the northernmost province of Batanes. "The situation is potentially very destructive to communities," it warned. "All travel and outdoor activities should be cancelled." Usagi, which has a diameter of 900 kilometres, was expected to bring heavy to intense rainfall over Batanes and at least 17 other provinces in the northern Philippines. Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau said Usagi, located 490 kilometres east-southeast of the island's southernmost tip, was expected to make landfall late Friday. It warned the typhoon would bring up to 1,000 millimetres of rain to eastern mountain counties and huge waves as it urged fishing boats to return to port. The Ministry of National Defence on Friday put on alert 23,000 personnel in eastern and southern Taiwan for possible emergencies. -- SPA 11:17 LOCAL TIME 08:17 GMT تغريد
