Floods kill 15, leave 5 missing in Vietnam

Flash floods and landslides caused by heavy rain in Vietnam's northern and central regions since late last week have killed 15 people and left five missing, the Central Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control said on Wednesday.

As of Wednesday, floods and landslides claimed nine lives and left three people missing in central Thanh Hoa province. Meanwhile, floods killed two people in northern Lang Son province, and one person in each of the four northern provinces of Hoa Binh, Yen Bai, Son La and Lai Chau, and left one person missing in Lai Chau and Yen Bai each, Xinhua news agency reported.

The floods and landslides also destroyed 382 houses, damaged 5,209 hectares of rice and other crops, and killed 2,400 cattle and over 1,02,400 fowls, said the committee.

Natural disasters, mostly typhoons, floods and landslides, killed or left missing 153 people and injured 119 others, and caused property losses of over 7,000 billion Vietnamese dong (304.3 million U.S. dollars) in the first eight months of this year, according to Vietnam's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

--IANS

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