Typhoon blows toward central Vietnam coast

HANOI, Sep 30 (Reuters) Vietnam evacuated thousands of people and halted domestic flights as Typhoon Xangsane was forecast to hit the central coast late today or early tomorrow, officials said.

The typhoon killed at least 61 people and left a trail of destruction in the Philippines. It was expected to pound the 1,000-km coastline of central Vietnam which prepared for torrential rains, flooding and landslides.

''The wind is getting stronger and stronger here, we expect the storm to make landfall late tonight or very early tomorrow morning,'' said an official of the flood and storm prevention committee in the central city of Danang.

''We have closed the airport and completed the evacuation of all people living in vulnerable areas,'' she said, The typhoon was expected to pass through the historic city of Hue just north of Danang, the southeast Asian country's fourth largest city, and Quang Ngai, 130km south of Danang.

Weather officials said the storm would skirt the coffee-growing area of the Central Highlands. Vietnam is the world's second largest coffee grower after Brazil.

Authorities were calling in all fishing vessels and urging them to take shelter. State media quoted the National Flood and Storm Prevention Committee as saying it was unable to make contact with about 500 fishing vessels still at sea.

Xangsane, which means ''elephant'' in the Lao language, was a category 4 storm in the South China Sea today that can carry winds of 211-250 km per hour, according to www.tropicalstormrisk.com.

The Vietnam national weather centre said the typhoon's winds were measured at up to 149 kph and it was moving west at 20 kph. It forecast waves as high as 10 metres.

The storm tracking site forecast the typhoon to hit the coast of mostly rural, densely-populated Vietnam tomorrow at about 0100 hrs.

Vietnam Airlines grounded all domestic flights.

In May, 267 people, mostly fishermen, were killed or were unaccounted for after typhoon Chanchu struck Vietnam's central coastline. Vietnam's storm forecast system and preparations were criticised for failing to forecast the direction of the storm.

Reuters SHB DB1897