A tropical storm roared toward Vietnam on Sunday after battering the Philippine capital and surrounding provinces, leaving 14 people dead in a region still waterlogged from three previous, back-to-back storms. Typhoon Mirinae slammed into Manila and nearby northern Philippine provinces over the weekend then weakened into a storm as it blew out Sunday toward the South China Sea, leaving at least 14 people dead, toppling trees and damaging more than 5,500 houses with fierce winds, officials said. Mirinae was the fourth storm to lash the northern Philippines since late September and brought new hardship to areas still dealing with the previous disasters. Some 87,000 people who fled during prior storms were still living in temporary shelters when Mirinae struck. The storm headed out over the South China Sea and was swirling 279 miles (450 kilometers) southwest of Manila early Sunday but could still bring rains and thunderstorms to western Palawan province, forecasters said. It was expected to strike Vietnam"s central coast around noon Monday, The Associated Press reported. Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung ordered residents to begin evacuating high-risk areas of five coastal provinces. He also ordered Vietnamese fishermen in the South China Sea to seek shelter immediately.
