Landslide paralyses Dien Bien-Lai Chau highway for a week

A rolling landslide caused by prolonged heavy flooding crushed a long stretch of National Highway 12 linking the northern mountainous provinces of Dien Bien and Lai Chau on August 3.

The 1.4-kilometre stretch is covered with as much as 32,000 cubic metres of rock and soil.

According to Dien Bien provincial transport authorities, it will take 5-7 days to resume normal traffic flow on the route.

The Office of the National Steering Committee for Disaster Prevention and Control (NSCDPC) reported on August 3 that floods triggered by torrential rain over the last weekend killed an additional six and injured another six in northern provinces.

Among the dead, two are from Lai Chau, two from Lang Son, one from Son La and one from Bac Giang. Of those injured, four are from Dien Bien and two from Lao Cai.

The torrential rain flooded, damaged or destroyed 3,500 houses, inundated 8,776 hectares of rice and damaged 852 hectares of farm land, killing 11,600 heads of cattle and poultry.

The disaster also damaged 10,781 kilometres of ditches and irrigation canals and 88 small irrigation facilities as well as busted a 30-metre section of the Cau River in Hoa Long commune, Bac Ninh city.

Landslides occurred across a number of roads and washed away 12 temporary bridges.-VNA