WORLD> Asia-Pacific
Flash floods kill 73, leave 34 missing in Vietnam
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-08-10 11:26

HANOI -- Flash floods in some Vietnamese northern provinces sparkled by heavy rain in a storm since Friday have killed at least 73 local people and left 34 others missing, the online version of local newspaper Young People reported Sunday.

The flash floods had, by 22:30 Saturday, claimed at least 73 lives, left 34 people missing, and injured 29 others in the four provinces of Lao Cai, Yen Bai, Phu Tho and Quang Ninh, the newspaper quoted statistics from the four provincial Anti-Flood and Storm Steering Committees as reporting.

Lao Cai was hardest hit with 31 cases of deaths, 32 missing, and nine injuries, followed by Yen Bai with the respective figures of 29, two and 19, Quang Ninh with eight deaths and one injury, and Phu Tho with five fatalities.

The rain spell has been the heaviest in Lao Cai over the past six years, Nguyen Ngoc Dung, director of the provincial Transport Department said, noting that the floods have blocked many road and rail sections. On Saturday, a train departing from Hanoi to Lao Cai derailed in Yen Bai.

Heavy rain and high river water levels broke a small dyke in Phu Tho, inundating 1,517 houses. On Saturday, a building under construction in Quang Ninh collapsed due to heavy rain, killing a local contractor and six workers, the newspaper said.

Northern mountainous provinces are still facing potential flash floods and landslides till August 13, the newspaper quoted Bui Minh Tang, director of Vietnam's National Hydrometeorology Forecast Center, as saying.