HANOI (Reuters) -Heavy rains triggered by tropical storm Wipha have caused severe flooding in the central Vietnamese province of Nghe An, killing at least three people and leaving one more missing.
With a long coastline facing the South China Sea, Vietnam is prone to typhoons that often cause deadly floods and mudslides. Wipha is the first major storm to hit the country this year.
Wipha made landfall in Vietnam on Tuesday, after battering Hong Kong and China and worsening monsoon rains and flooding in the Philippines.
One of the victims was buried by a landslide while another was washed away by a strong current, reported the Kinh Te Moi Truong newspaper, citing information from the People’s Committee of Nghe An.
More than 3,700 houses in the province have been inundated by flood waters, and another 459 were damaged by strong winds, according to the report.
Photos on state media show homes in villages in the province submerged to the roofs.
“Our rice, our clothing and our money are all gone,” Dang Thi Ngoc, a local flood victim, told state broadcaster VTV. “We have nothing left except for our bare hands.”
Flood waters have also damaged 1,600 hectares of rice plantations and 1,290 hectares of cash crops in the province, the report said.
The government’s weather forecast agency said heavy rains reaching up to 250 millimetres are expected on Thursday and Friday and could last until Saturday in several parts of northern Vietnam, potentially causing more flooding.
(Reporting by Khanh Vu; Additional reporting by Minh Nguyen)
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