The typhoon season's first storm has killed two people in southern Vietnam, authorities said Tuesday. Tropical Storm Pakhar caused strong winds and heavy rain across seven provinces over the weekend. A 24-year-old fisherman sailing off the coast of Ninh Thuan province fell overboard and drowned late Sunday, the Central Steering Committee for Storm and Flood Control said. Another man was electrocuted the same evening in Ninh Thuan province while repairing the roof of his house when the storm hit, it was quoted as saying by DPA. Winds of 75 to 88 kilometres per hour damaged nearly 5,000 houses and destroyed crops on more than 6,700 hectares of rice paddy. Nine people were injured when they were hit by falling trees or masonry. Tens of thousands of people were evacuated, including 47,000 families in Ba Ria-Vung Tau province and 1,043 in Ninh Thuan. Pakhar formed over the South China Sea Sunday. It later weakened into a tropical depression after making landfall that evening.
