Most of the 23 victims were washed away by floodwaters as nearly 46,000 people have been evacuated from affected areas.
Vietnam’s flood death toll rose to at least 23 and authorities said the incoming storm Nangka would dump more heavy rain on the country in the coming days.
The floods also left at least 14 people missing in Vietnam’s central provinces, the government said in a statement on Monday.
Most of the victims were washed away by floodwaters, the national disaster management authority said, adding local authorities evacuated nearly 46,000 people from affected areas.
The floods have inundated more than 109,000 homes and 1,443 acres (584 hectares) of crops and damaged roads and bridges, the agency added.
Separately, a landslide on Monday reportedly buried 13 construction workers at a hydropower dam in the central province of Thua Thien Hue.
According to weather forecasters, water levels will keep rising, swelling rivers and submerging more communities in the region, the state-owned Tuoi Tre newspaper reported.
The situation worsened over the weekend when Tropical Storm Linfa, which weakened to a depression when it hit the country, brought more rain to the region.
“We received a report saying that between 10 and 13 workers have been buried in a landslide and we don’t know if they are still alive,” a disaster management official in Thua Thien Hue province told Reuters news agency by telephone.
Soldiers were deployed to the area to rescue the workers, said the official, who asked not to be named as he was not authorised to speak to the media.
“We are concerned that the incoming storm will worsen the flood situation,” the official said.
Storm Nangka, which is forecast to make landfall in northern Vietnam on Wednesday, will trigger heavy rain of up to 400 millimetres (16 inches) in parts of northern and central Vietnam from Wednesday through Friday, the national weather agency said.
Vietnam is prone to destructive storms and flooding because of its long coastline. Natural disasters – predominantly floods and landslides triggered by storms – killed 132 people and injured 207 others in the country last year.
SOURCE : NEWS AGENCIES
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Source: Vietnam Insider