The death toll from Typhoon Damrey and the flash floods it spawned in several Asian countries rose to at least 120 on Friday, according to Reuters. The official Vietnam News Agency said all 51 people swept away by flash floods in the northern province of Yen Bai, 180 km (110 miles) northwest of Hanoi, had died although a provincial disaster official told Reuters only 33 bodies had been found. China, where Damrey caused huge damage on the southern island of Hainan, raised its toll from 16 to 25 and Thailand said two more people had been killed in flash floods in the north, taking its total to nine. While Damrey -- Khmer for elephant -- killed only five people as it roared ashore in northern Vietnam on Tuesday, 65 people were killed by flash floods as it also lashed parts of Laos and northern Thailand with torrential rain. The Philippines reported 16 deaths in Damrey's rampage across its main island of Luzon while the official Xinhua news agency quoted a Chinese official as saying it caused economic losses of 11.6 billion yuan ($1.5 billion). Damrey nearly wiped out the aquaculture industry on Hainan and damaged the power grid and rubber plantations there, Xinhua quoted the official as saying. On Thursday, Vietnam Communist Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh toured Yen Bai and urged officials to speed up the distribution of relief. Prime Minister Phan Van Khai told provincial governments to evacuate people in areas at risk from landslides and flash floods.
