Thousands stranded as record floods submerge Vietnam streets, eight people killed
Thousands stranded as record floods submerge Vietnam streets
- Record floods in Vietnam have killed at least eight people and stranded tens of thousands, with water submerging streets and homes.
- The military mobilized 30,000 personnel and thousands of boats for rescue efforts and delivered essential supplies by helicopter.
- Flood levels in northern rivers reached nearly the highest in 40 years, affecting provinces like Thai Nguyen and Lang Son.
- Authorities evacuated over 200 families after a dam burst, causing about $1.9 million in damages following Typhoon Matmo.
Record floods have killed at least eight people in Vietnam, with tens of thousands of people stranded with water submerging streets and inundating homes.
Floodwaters reached the tops of cars and rooftops in areas of Thai Nguyen city, about 80 kilometres north of the capital Hanoi, with many left stuck at home and others forced to flee.
The environment ministry said eight people were killed in flash floods and landslides in Vietnam’s mountainous north since Monday, and at least five others were missing.
“I have never witnessed such a terrible flood since I was born 60 years ago,” Nguyen Van Nguyen told AFP from his three-storey house in Thai Nguyen province.
The military said it had mobilised 30,000 personnel and thousands of boats to join rescue and relief efforts.
It used three helicopters to drop more than four tonnes of water, instant noodles, dry cake, milk and life jackets to people in flooded parts of Lang Son province.
From late Tuesday to Wednesday, the country recorded the highest flood levels on three rivers in the north in nearly 40 years, state media reported.
The high-water mark of Trung river in Lang Son, bordering China, was forecast to peak at nearly two metres above the record, Vietnam state television said.
The Bang and Thuong rivers also surpassed levels not seen since 1986.
By Wednesday morning, the weather bureau said the Cau river, running across Thai Nguyen city, was more than a metre higher than the previous record level — when Typhoon Yagi devastated the country in September last year.
Pleas for help posted online
Overnight Tuesday and Wednesday, social media users posted pleas for help as their relatives and friends were left stranded with no electricity and few provisions in the provinces of Thai Nguyen, Cao Bang and Lang Son.
“Our ground floor (in Thai Nguyen province) was totally flooded. My parents and five kids were stuck, with not enough food and water. No communication since late Tuesday. They need urgent help,” Thoan Vu posted online alongside hundreds of similar pleas.
Authorities earlier evacuated more than 200 families living in Lang Son province, downstream from a dam that burst on Tuesday afternoon.
The cracked dam, part of the reservoir for the Bac Khe 1 hydropower plant, caused about $1.9 million in estimated economic losses, the ministry said in a statement.
“The reservoir of the small hydropower plant has a capacity of four million cubic metres of water… so together with heavy rains, neighbouring communes may be inundated, but no flash floods were forecast,” it said.
Scientists say human-driven climate change is making extreme weather events like typhoons more deadly and destructive.
The floods followed heavy rain from Typhoon Matmo, which weakened on Monday while approaching Vietnam but hit the north hard.
Matmo landed only a week after Typhoon Bualoi triggered widespread flooding, killing at least 56 people and causing economic losses estimated at more than $710 million.
