Vietnam evacuates thousands as floods kill 19
Pastor Dale Morgan
Vietnam evacuates thousands as floods kill 19
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18 Aug 2006 04:09:14 GMT
Source: Reuters
HANOI, Aug 18 (Reuters) - Vietnam ordered the evacuation of thousands of
people on Friday in the central and northern regions to avoid flash
floods and landslides triggered by prolonged rains that have killed at
least 19 people.
Floods after torrential rains since last Friday hit the Central
Highlands' key coffee-growing region and four central coastal provinces,
killing at least eight people in Binh Thuan province and four in Nghe An
province, a government report said.
Six others drowned in four provinces and one died in the Mekong delta
province of Dong Thap. The floods also displaced thousands of people,
inundated 5,000 houses, submerged nearly 40,000 hectares (100,000 acres)
of mainly rice and corn crops and also blocked traffic.
"The rains, which in the past weeks have triggered landslides and floods
causing human deaths and property damage, are expected to continue in
the coming days in the country's north and central north," the National
Flood and Storm Prevention Centre said in a message on Friday.
The centre ordered provincial authorities to move people out of
low-lying areas.
More than 1,600 households in the central highland provinces of Dak
Nong, Daklak and Lam Dong have been evacuated, the centre said. Rice and
instant noodles have been sent to the Central Highlands that produces 80
percent of Vietnam's coffee.
Natural disasters, especially floods and storms, kill several hundred
people in Vietnam each year, mainly during the storm season between May
and October.
This year's rains and floods did not damage the region's coffee crop as
coffee trees are planted on higher ground. But rains have delayed
several deliveries to Saigon Port as exporters temporarily stopped
processing, traders said.
Further to the south, seasonal floods are forecast to rise quickly in
the next five days in the Mekong delta rice basket, which generates half
of Vietnam's grain output. However, most of the summer-autumn rice crop
has been harvested in key growing provinces bordering Cambodia.