Typhoon Molave roared closer to Vietnam with destructive force on Wednesday, leaving one villager dead and causing two boats with 12 fishermen to sink as the country braced for the most powerful storm in 20 years, state media said.

A man died after winds of up to 150 km per hour knocked him off his roof while trying to reinforce it in south-central Quang Ngai province, where the typhoon was forecast to make landfall later Wednesday, the official Vietnam News Agency (VTV) reported.