HANOI (Reuters) -The death toll from a new round of torrential rain, flooding and landslides in central Vietnam since the weekend has risen to 16, a government report said on Thursday, with water levels rising further in already inundated towns and villages.
Rainfall exceeded 1,500 millimetres in several parts of central Vietnam over the past three days. The region is home to a key coffee production belt as well as the country’s most popular beaches, but it is highly prone to storms and floods.
The floods and landslides have also left five people missing, and inundated more than 43,000 houses and over 10,000 hectares of crops, according to the report from the government’s disaster management agency.
Traders on Wednesday said the floodwaters have also inundated coffee farms and hampered an ongoing coffee harvest in the region.
More than 553,000 households and businesses are still facing blackouts after power grids were damaged by the floods, according to the government.
STRANDED ON ROOFTOPS
Photographs shared on state media reports show residents, including children, sitting on the roofs of flooded houses and calling for help via social media platforms.
“Any group out there please help! We’ve been sitting on the roof since 10pm last night, including kids and adults,” a resident of Khanh Hoa province posted on a local Facebook page. Alongside the post was a photograph of a group of people sitting on the metal roof of a flooded house as the rain lashed down.
The photos also show several residential areas in Khanh Hoa, Gia Lai and Dak Lak provinces submerged in deep water.
Naval forces have been deployed to help stranded citizens in Khanh Hoa, the Vietnam News Agency reported on Thursday, adding that floodwaters have reached record highs in many areas.
LITTLE GIRL RESCUED FROM COLLAPSED HOUSE
A seven-year-old girl was rescued late on Wednesday in Da Lat after suddenly being buried by a landslide, the Nhan Dan newspaper reported.
The landslide, triggered by heavy rain, knocked down and buried part of the house where the girl was staying, according to the report.
A photo accompanying the report showed the girl’s hand sticking out from a pile of soil, rock and broken concrete as the rescuers arrived.
She was pulled out after an hour and a half with a broken leg and rushed to the hospital. She is now in stable condition, according to the report.
The national weather forecast agency warned of more flooding and landslides to come on Wednesday, with heavy rain set to continue in the region.
(Reporting by Khanh Vu; Editing by David Stanway)
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