Typhoon Wutip, which hit central Vietnam on September 30 and killed seven people, also devastated about 16,900 hectares of rubber forests in Quang Tri and Quang Binh provinces, the Central Steering Committee for Flood and Strom Prevention and Control reported.

Of the total ruined area, more than 10,000 hectares are in Quang Binh, which accounts for 55 percent of the province’s total rubber area. The rest of the damage is in Quang Tri, which affected 45 percent of its total rubber forests, the agency said. Vinh Linh District suffered the most in Quang Tri, with more than 4,000 hectares of rubber destroyed in many communes, including Vinh Thach, where 70 percent of the 400 hectares of rubber plants collapsed. Quang Binh, Bo Trach district, considered “the rubber granary” of the province, also suffered big losses. Most of the rubber fields there belong to the Viet Trung Farm, which has grown roughly 3,000 hectares of rubber plants. Now about 80 percent of the area has been ruined by the typhoon. Pham Xuan Thanh, deputy director of the Viet Trung One Member Limited Liability Company, said that 1,600 employees of the company are facing underemployment because of the great loss, which will considerably affect their income. Besides rubber plants, the typhoon also damaged thousands of hectares of other crops in Quang Tri, Quang Binh, and several other central provinces. According to the latest information obtained by Tuoi Tre, seven people have been reported dead because of Typhoon Wutip, four more since yesterday’s count. Of the deaths, five are in Quang Binh and the rest are in Thanh Hoa province. Three others are missing since the typhoon, two in Nghe An and one in Quang Binh.