Bualoi death toll rises to 51 in Vietnam, banks told to support affected firms

HANOI (Reuters) -The death toll in Vietnam from Typhoon Bualoi and the floods it triggered has risen to 51, according to a Friday government report, as the central bank urged banks to support affected businesses.

Bualoi made landfall on Monday in northern central Vietnam, bringing huge sea swells, strong winds and heavy rains that also left 14 people missing and injured 164 others, according to the report from the government's disaster management agency.

The agency also raised its estimate of property damage caused by the typhoon and its flooding to 15.9 trillion dong ($603 million), up from $435.8 million in a previous report released on Thursday.

The typhoon severely damaged roads, schools and offices, and caused power grid failures that left tens of thousands of families without electricity, the report said.

More than 230,000 houses were damaged or inundated, and nearly 89,000 hectares of rice and other crops were destroyed, it said.

The report did not mention any major damage to industrial properties.

Vietnam is a regional manufacturing hub, and large factories in or near the typhoon's path included some owned by Foxconn, Formosa Plastics, Luxshare and Vinfast.

The central bank has told banks to consider restructuring or freezing loans for firms hit by the typhoon, deputy governor Pham Thanh Ha said on Friday.

($1 = 26,383 dong)

(Reporting by Khanh Vu; Editing by David Stanway)