Typhoon Nesat to hit Vietnam

Powerful Typhoon Nesat was heading towards Vietnam after causing relatively little damage when it landed on a southern China island, Associated Press reports.

It had forced hundreds of thousands of people from their homes on China's Hainan island on Thursday as authorities ordered mass evacuations after the typhoon killed at least 43 people earlier in week in the Philippines.

But Hainan was left unscathed after flights were canceled, and schools closed as a precaution.

Hong Kong also got off lightly, after shutting down its financial district in preparation for a battering but the storm passed by.

Thousands of people were seeking shelter in Vietnam with predictions of the typhoon to hit Friday afternoon.

High winds buffeted Hanoi, in northern Vietnam, where forecasters said Nesat would hit Vietnam's northeast coast, AFP reports.

"According to our predictions, after reaching land the typhoon will be weaker but still quite powerful," Bui Minh Tang, director of Vietnam's national weather forecasting center, told AFP.

"It will be accompanied by heavy rain and violent winds."

Voice of Vietnam radio reported that about 5,000 residents of an island off the northeastern port city of Haiphong had sought shelter.

AP reports:

In the Philippines, more than 160,000 people were still in evacuation centers Friday, three days after Nesat tore a path across the country’s main island and triggered some of the worst flooding in the capital in decades.

Even as the weather improved with some sunshine, more misery hit residents of Bulacan province just north of Manila when three dams released excess water, flooding farmland and sending residents in towns downstream wading through neck-deep waters.

Overall, damage from Typhoon Nesat was estimated at $91 million in the Philippines. No estimates have been given yet for damage to Hainan.