Central Vietnam flooding kills four, leaves five missing, and submerges 103,525 homes after record rainfall triggers landslides and crop destruction.
HANOI: Record-breaking rainfall has triggered severe flooding across central Vietnam, killing at least four people and submerging more than 100,000 homes.
The environment ministry confirmed on Wednesday that four people died and five others are missing in Hue, Danang, and Lam Dong provinces.
Heavy rains have lashed Vietnam’s coastal provinces since Sunday, with one area recording up to 1.7 metres of rainfall within 24 hours.
More than 150 landslides were reported, destroying 2,200 hectares of crops and flooding 103,525 houses.
Many of the 21,000 evacuated residents began returning home as floodwaters receded in Hue on Wednesday morning.
However, renewed rainfall by midday forced the local hydropower plant to discharge its reservoirs.
Danang province was forecast to experience further flooding over the next two days, with city rivers swollen to alarming levels.
Scientists attribute the increasing severity of such extreme weather events to human-driven climate change.
Natural disasters have killed or left 187 people missing in Vietnam during the first nine months of this year.
The General Statistics Office reported more than 240,000 hectares of crops destroyed and 38,000 houses damaged or collapsed.
Total economic losses from these disasters were estimated at over USD 610 million. – Bernama
