Typhoon Noru floods streets in Vietnam

STORY: Noru, which has been downgraded from typhoon to tropical storm, made landfall in the early hours with wind speeds of 72 miles per hour (117 km per hour) in Quang Nam province. There were no immediate reports of casualties and residents had been warned by authorities to stay on alert because of the risks from flooding and landslides caused by heavy rain, the government said.

Noru was the strongest storm to hit the neighboring Philippines this year and killed at least eight people when it made landfall on Sunday night (September 24), flooding farmland and communities and damaging crops, mainly rice.

Vietnam is also vulnerable to destructive storms and flooding because of its long coastline. Natural disasters - predominantly floods and landslides triggered by storms - killed 139 people and injured 150 others in the country last year, official data showed.