Severe floods had left 21 dead and missing in the central provinces as of Oct. 17 while a tropical storm is forecast to hit East Sea on Oct. 18.
Most of the victims were swept away in flash floods while travelling in Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh and Thua Thien-Hue provinces, reported local authorities.
“The swift current and an immense sea of water on large area make it difficult for us to search for the missing,” said Nguyen Hong Ha, a local from Nghe An province’s Nghi Trung commune.
On Oct. 17, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung asked the Finance Ministry to immediately provide 100 million VND each to Quang Binh and Ha Tinh provinces following Deputy PM Hoang Trung Hai’s decision.
The PM also requested that the National Reserves Department allocate 1,000 tonnes of rice to each of the two provinces for timely restoration of the aftermaths of the floods.
A working group of the National Steering Committee for Flood and Storm Control on Oct. 16 made a tour of Ha Tinh province to provide guidance on coping with the natural disasters.
Vietnam News Agency correspondents in the central provinces reported that waters continued to rise in these localities.
The three consecutive days of torrential rains that ended on Oct. 16 also flooded thousands houses in these provinces for the second time since the beginning of October, said the Flood and Storm Control Steering Committee.
In Quang Binh alone, 10,000 families were evacuated to safe places and some 40,000 houses remained flooded, nearly half of which were 1.5-2m deep in water, said the provincial People’s Committee Chairman Nguyen Huu Hoai.
Heavy rains and flooding also blocked road and railway transport, isolating more than 100,000 houses in Ha Tinh province after its Mo and Khe Mung hydro-power dams were broken.
“Rain has resulted in landslides leaving 25 areas under thousands of cubic metres of soil and rocks and blocking transport on National Highway 8A,” said Nguyen Truong Tuong, director of 474 Road Management and Repair Company.
National Highway 1A was also 1m deep in water and many provincial roads remained many metres under water, preventing rescue team from reaching flooded house.
The north-south railway was suspended between Nghe An’s Vinh station and Quang Binh’s Dong Hoi station after many parts of the rails were washed away in the floods, said Nguyen Huu Tuyen, head of the Vietnam Railway’s Transport Business Department.
He couldn’t say when the section could reopen but workers would start fixing the rails as soon as water subsided.
Three north-south trains were cancelled on Oct. 17 while some 3,000 passengers who were stranded at those two stations on Oct. 16 continued their journey by bus.
Meanwhile, the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting says storm Megi, the incoming tropical that formed in the Philippines, is travelling west at 20kph and is predicted to be 300km east of Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelago by the morning of Oct. 20.
The previous floods in early October killed 66 people in the centre of Vietnam./.
Most of the victims were swept away in flash floods while travelling in Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh and Thua Thien-Hue provinces, reported local authorities.
“The swift current and an immense sea of water on large area make it difficult for us to search for the missing,” said Nguyen Hong Ha, a local from Nghe An province’s Nghi Trung commune.
On Oct. 17, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung asked the Finance Ministry to immediately provide 100 million VND each to Quang Binh and Ha Tinh provinces following Deputy PM Hoang Trung Hai’s decision.
The PM also requested that the National Reserves Department allocate 1,000 tonnes of rice to each of the two provinces for timely restoration of the aftermaths of the floods.
A working group of the National Steering Committee for Flood and Storm Control on Oct. 16 made a tour of Ha Tinh province to provide guidance on coping with the natural disasters.
Vietnam News Agency correspondents in the central provinces reported that waters continued to rise in these localities.
The three consecutive days of torrential rains that ended on Oct. 16 also flooded thousands houses in these provinces for the second time since the beginning of October, said the Flood and Storm Control Steering Committee.
In Quang Binh alone, 10,000 families were evacuated to safe places and some 40,000 houses remained flooded, nearly half of which were 1.5-2m deep in water, said the provincial People’s Committee Chairman Nguyen Huu Hoai.
Heavy rains and flooding also blocked road and railway transport, isolating more than 100,000 houses in Ha Tinh province after its Mo and Khe Mung hydro-power dams were broken.
“Rain has resulted in landslides leaving 25 areas under thousands of cubic metres of soil and rocks and blocking transport on National Highway 8A,” said Nguyen Truong Tuong, director of 474 Road Management and Repair Company.
National Highway 1A was also 1m deep in water and many provincial roads remained many metres under water, preventing rescue team from reaching flooded house.
The north-south railway was suspended between Nghe An’s Vinh station and Quang Binh’s Dong Hoi station after many parts of the rails were washed away in the floods, said Nguyen Huu Tuyen, head of the Vietnam Railway’s Transport Business Department.
He couldn’t say when the section could reopen but workers would start fixing the rails as soon as water subsided.
Three north-south trains were cancelled on Oct. 17 while some 3,000 passengers who were stranded at those two stations on Oct. 16 continued their journey by bus.
Meanwhile, the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting says storm Megi, the incoming tropical that formed in the Philippines, is travelling west at 20kph and is predicted to be 300km east of Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelago by the morning of Oct. 20.
The previous floods in early October killed 66 people in the centre of Vietnam./.
