Hanoi: At least 90 people have been killed in
flooding in central Vietnam sparked by Tropical Storm Mirinae,
which slammed into the country this week after pummelling the
Philippines, officials said today.
A further 22 people were reported missing after the storm
struck on Monday, destroying hundreds of homes and leaving
more than 200,000 people stranded, according to regional
officials who asked not to be named and local reports.
Television pictures from the provinces of Phu Yen and Gia
Lai, which were among the worst hit regions along with Binh
Dinh, showed rescuers in boats helping desperate residents
escape some of the worst flooding there in decades.
Water in places reached up to the rooftops of buildings,
where some residents had sought refuge. The VTV channel
reported that 200,000 people were stranded in Binh Dinh
province alone.
"It is the most devastating flooding in more than 30
years in Phu Yen," the national disaster committee said in a
statement, after part of the province's system of Dykes was
overwhelmed.
Two thousand soldiers had been deployed to help with the
rescue effort.
The national disaster committee said Mirinae, which hit
the Philippines as a deadly typhoon at the weekend, had
destroyed 700 homes and damaged more than 13,000 others when
it hit Vietnam's central coastal areas on Monday.
Bureau Report
First Published: Wednesday, November 04, 2009, 17:19