By Khanh Vu and Thinh Nguyen
NGHE AN/HANOI (Reuters) - Typhoon Bualoi tore through Vietnam's coast on Monday, killing eight people and leaving 17 others missing as strong winds and rain damaged houses, knocked out power and flooded roads before the storm lost some strength as it headed towards Laos.
Bualoi had moved along the country's northern central coastline before making landfall early on Monday, causing waves as high as eight metres, the national weather agency said.
Seventeen fishermen were missing after huge waves hit two fishing boats off Quang Tri province, while another fishing boat lost contact during the storm, the government's disaster management agency said.
"I stayed awake the whole night fearing the door would be pulled off by strong winds," said Ho Van Quynh from Nghe An province. His neighbours said they spent the night trying to protect their homes as the power to their apartment building went out.
"I've witnessed many storms, and this is one of the strongest," said 45-year-old Nguyen Tuan Vinh.
Strong winds killed eight people and injured seven others in Ninh Binh province, the Vietnam News Agency reported.
One person died after being caught in floodwater in Hue city, and another was killed by a falling tree in Thanh Hoa province, the disaster management agency said.
By 11:00 a.m. (0400 GMT), the typhoon was moving over Nghe An province into Laos, with maximum wind speeds weakening to 74 kph (46 mph) from 117 kph when it made landfall, the weather agency said.
Bualoi has so far damaged 245 houses, inundated nearly 1,400 hectares of rice and other crops, and cut off access to several areas, the disaster management agency said in a report.
No major damage to industrial properties was mentioned in the report, though there are some large factories in or near Bualoi's path, including those owned by Foxconn, Luxshare, Formosa Plastics and Vinfast.
Ahead of the typhoon hitting, the government had evacuated more than 28,500 people, while hundreds of flights were cancelled or delayed as four airports in central provinces were closed.
The cyclone has triggered heavy rains across most of Vietnam since Saturday, and authorities have warned of the risk of severe floods and landslides.
Rainfall in several parts of the country was forecast to hit 500 millimetres from Sunday night through Tuesday, according to the weather agency.
With a long coastline facing the South China Sea, Vietnam is prone to typhoons that are often formed east of the Philippines, where at least 10 people died after Bualoi hit there last week.
(Reporting by Khanh Vu in Hanoi and Thinh Nguyen in Nghe An; Editing by John Mair and Saad Sayeed)
