Storm Rai weakens into tropical depression

According to the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting, the center of the depression lay 180 km south of China’s Hainan Island at 10 p.m. Monday with the strongest wind speed measured at 40-50 kph.

It is forecast to continue moving north-east at 20 kph and keep weakening.

Rai, the ninth storm in the South China Sea this year, was a super typhoon when it hit the Philippines before it started to weaken.

But on Sunday it intensified again into a super typhoon, belying forecasts it would continue to weaken as it moved closer to the Vietnamese coast.

It sank five fishing vessels off Vietnam’s south-central Binh Thuan Province on Sunday, killing one fisherman. It also caused damage worth at least VND200 billion ($8.7 million) to seafood farms off Khanh Hoa Province.

In the Philippines, the death toll from the typhoon had climbed to at least 375 by the end of Monday, according to AFP.