Vietnam floods kill scores; thousands of homes inundated

HCMC – Flooding has continued to ravage central Vietnam, with at least 19 people reported dead by Sunday and over 100,000 homes submerged under floodwater. Last night flooding showed no signs of abating in much of Ha Tinh Province and seven people there were reported killed and three others missing, according to Tuoi Tre Online. Hundreds of villages were isolated by floodwaters and almost 84,000 homes were flooded. Heavy downpours continued in Ha Tinh on Sunday with rainfalls measuring at between 600 and nearly 1,000 mm, thus worsening the situation. In one particular area, Chu Le, flooding exceeded the 2007 peak by 0.43m. Neighboring Nghe An Province suffered the highest flood death toll with eight people killed as more than 800 mm of rain had fallen in some parts of the province. Thousands of homes are isolated since floodwaters continue to flow downstream the rapidly swelling Lam River. Heavy rains fell in Nghe An, Ha Tinh and Quang Binh provinces with an average rainfall of between 600-700mm. Floods also inundated the central region’s key roads, including National Roads 1A and 15A, and Ho Chi Minh Road , causing congestion along the north-south route. To mitigate the consequences, the Central Committee for Flood and Storm Control asked central provinces to mobilize all resources and forces to rescue people in flooded areas, provide them with food, drinking water and other necessities, and search for the missing. Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung on Sunday issued an emergency statement requesting the Ministry of Finance to provide relief aid for the two hardest-hit provinces of Quang Binh and Ha Tinh, each with VND100 billion. The National Reserve Department was asked to grant 1,000 tons of rice to each of the two provinces. Rivers from Nghe An to Ha Tinh are forecast to continue rising and water levels of rivers in Quang Binh will remain high in the coming days.