Floods kill 15 in central Vietnam

By Bennett Murray

HANOI, Vietnam

Floods have killed 15 people in central Vietnam after a week of torrential rains.

Downpours across 10 provinces have submerged 41,000 houses and 12,000 hectares of farmland, the government’s Central Steering Committee on Natural Disaster Prevention reported Monday.

Six people are also missing in the flood zone, while 440 cattle have perished.

Phu Yen province had the highest death toll with seven killed.

The local People’s Committee, which functions as the executive arm of the provincial government, requested 1,100 tons of rice from the national government to aid 33,600 people affected by the flooding, the state-controlled Vietnam News Agency reported.

The most recent flooding, which started Tuesday, came just two weeks after 31 people were killed in flash floods caused by a tropical depression in central Vietnam’s Quang Binh and Ha Tinh provinces.

October’s flooding displaced around 500,000 people in central Vietnam.