ENGLISH DEYEA NEWS

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS | HANOI — A storm killed two people in Vietnam but missed a heavily populated area and failed to inflict the large-scale flooding and damages that disaster officials had feared.

On Tuesday, the rains had largely stopped, and people began returning to their homes.

As it approached Vietnam, Tropical Storm Noul was packing winds of 75 kilometers-per-hour (45 miles-per-hour), and officials feared it would hit the heavily populated Mekong Delta.

But the storm changed course and lost force Monday afternoon, weakening to a tropical depression before striking central Vietnam, where thousands of people had been evacuated.

The storm claimed two lives in Khanh Hoa province, the capital of which is the tourist town of Nha Trang. One man died after he fell into a surging river, and another was electrocuted by a downed power line, said provincial disaster official Pham Van Quang.

In Phu Yen province, some streets were still under water Tuesday in Tuy Hoa City, the province's capital, but the floods were not as serious as predicted, said disaster official Dang Thi Lanh.

"It's over," Lanh said. "The sun is out again."

Last week, floods killed 12 people in the region. Earlier this month, 94 people died in floods that inundated the capital, Hanoi, and other provinces in the country's northern and central regions.

Vietnam is prone to floods, which kill hundreds each year.