Vietnam flooding death toll reaches 90 amid landslides and relentless rain | Vietnam
The death toll from major flooding in Vietnam has risen to 90 and 12 more people are missing, the environment ministry said on Sunday after days of heavy rain and landslides.
Incessant rain since late October has been affecting the central part of Vietnam, and popular holiday destinations have been flooded several times.
Rainfall exceeded 1,900 mm (74.8 inches) in some parts of central Vietnam last week. The region is a major coffee-producing belt and home to popular beaches, but is also prone to storms and floods.
The death toll is more than 60 The ministry said in a statement that since November 16, tens of thousands of houses have been recorded in the mountainous central province of Dak Lak as being flooded.
Last week, rescuers using boats in central Gia Lai and Dak Lak provinces opened windows and broke through roofs to help residents stranded by high water, according to state media; The army, police and other security forces took action to resettle and evacuate people to safe areas.
Rescuers brought food and water to flooded hospitals in the coastal city of Quy Nhon in Binh Dinh province, state-run Thanh Nien newspaper said, after doctors and patients at one facility survived on instant noodles and water for three days.
Water levels in the Ba River in Dak Lak province surpassed the 1993 record in two places early Thursday, while the Cai River in Khanh Hoa province also rose to a new high, the weather bureau said.
More than 235,000 homes were flooded and nearly 80,000 hectares of crops were damaged, Vietnam’s disaster agency said earlier.
The government estimates the floods have cost the economy around 8.98 trillion dong ($341 million) so far.
Between January and October, extreme weather left 279 people dead or missing in Vietnam and caused more than $2 billion in damage, according to the national statistics office.
The Southeast Asian country tends to experience heavy rains between June and September, but scientific evidence has identified a pattern of human-caused climate change that is making extreme weather more frequent and destructive.
