At least 58 people have died in Vietnam since Typhoon Lekima hit, bringing the worst floods in decades to the nation's northern and central regions, rescue officials said Monday.
Emergency workers have been taking water, food and medical supplies by boat and helicopter to villages cut off due to rivers bursting through dykes and landslides damaging roads.
The state-run Vietnam News Agency (VNA) reported the Central Steering Committee for Storm and Flood Prevention and Control said the floods are the worst the northern and central provinces have seen in 45 years.
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung visited the flooded Ninh Binh province Sunday and ordered authorities to supply food and shelter for flood victims while immediately repairing damaged dykes, roads, homes and schools, according to VNA.
The hardest hit province, north-central Nghe An, has reached a death toll of 22. The severe weather conditions have also killed nine people in Hoa Binh, seven in Son La, four in Ninh Binh and three in other provinces. These numbers are expected to climb, as 15 people are still listed as missing.
In the province of Thanh Hoa, where six deaths have been reported, water levels have exceeded those of disastrous 1996 floods by nearly three feet, according to Do Minh Quy, chairman of the Thach Thanh district people's committee. "We have evacted 58,000 of the 148,000 people in our district," he said to AFP. "At the moment, more than 12,000 people are still isolated."
"Thousands of people are homeless," said army Lieutenant Colonel Tran Quang Thanh. "We try to bring them clean water. We are afraid the death toll could rise and epidemics may occur."
Local doctor Nguyen Minh Tinh said the flooded district hospital has been without electricity and clean drinking water for days; officials have moved many patients to upper floors and to an area high school.
"I haven't slept for four days," said Mai Thi Thanh, another physician. "Many patients are in bad condition, and they could not be moved. We are trying to treat them without running water or electricity."
An Oxfam emergency assessment team, the Red Cross, United Nations agencies and other organizations will travel to Vietnam's three worst-hit provinces later this week to study the disaster situation and regional needs, said one aid official.
"Some areas are not accessible--the water is still high there," said Provash Mondal, Oxfam humanitarian program coordinator.
Typhoon Lekima, named after a local tropical fruit, and ensuing floods have damaged or destroyed approximately 128,000 homes and 400,000 acres of rice paddies and other crops in Vietnam, said authorities. The nation's fifth major storm event this year, Lekima hit land last Wednesday with maximum sustained winds of 72 mph. Previously it had hit the Philippines as a classified tropical storm, killing nine people and unleashing landslides and floods.
Source: AFP
