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Vietnam floods death toll rises

Nov 06 2007

Vietnam floods death toll rises

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By Agencies

Vietnam has suffered from an unusually long storm season this year [EPA]

The death toll in floods in Vietnam has risen to 67 people after another 33 were killed, officials said.

Heavy rain triggered the latest flood, which began on Friday and killed people in seven coastal provinces.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to cotinue living in their flooded neighbourhoods.

The region has braced itself for more destruction with a tropical storm approaching. Peipah, which crossed the Philippines island of Luzan early on Monday is expected to reach Vietnam on Friday.

Authorities distributed more than 1,000 tonnes of rice to flood victims.

The flood and storm department said they needed an extra 5,500 tonnes as provisions have been wiped out.

Vo Thanh, a disaster official, said: "The last two floods already caused a lot of hardship, now another one is coming".

Crop Damage

About 300 ancient houses in the town of Hoi An, a Unesco World Heritage site, were flooded with nearly one metre of water. Telephones lines have also been cut in many communities.

As well as property destruction, crop damage has cost the area $300m and delayed the coffee harvest.

Since October, the region which includes the Central Highlands coffee belt, has been hit hard by storms and floods and killed nearly 200 people in total.

The three-month storm season, packed with up to 10 typhoons, often ends in Vietnam in October. This year tropical storms have hit later than usual.