Vietnam battles rising floods, death toll hits 14

Hanoi, Aug 7: Vietnamese rescuers are moving thousands of people to higher ground today after a storm dumped heavy rain in the central region, killing 14 people, officials said.

Another 15 people were missing.

Most of the deaths were in the Central Highlands coffee growing region where flash floods swept away people, houses, rice and corn crops at the weekend, the government said in its disaster report today.

Many areas were cut off by floods that struck the region's hilly terrain ahead of a storm that neared the central coast yesterday before weakening into a depression, the national weather bureau said.

The depression, with winds of up to 49 km) per hour at its centre, was 130 km northeast of the central province of Quang Binh early today and moving slowly northwest.

It dumped up to 500 mm of rain on the coffee belt and a swathe of coastal provinces where rivers rose to dangerous levels today, the government said.

The coffee crop in the Central Highlands was not at risk and rains even helped green coffee cherries develop before the harvesting starts in late October, traders said.

But four people were killed and 15 missing in flash floods in the highland province of Daklak, while four others died in the neighbouring province of Lam Dong.

In the central coastal province of Ha Tinh, lightning killed a woman and one son and injured another son in their house, state-run Voice of Vietnam radio said today.

Rescuers were ordered to evacuate 15,500 people in seven coastal and Central Highlands provinces, including Daklak and Lam Dong, and give them emergency food aid, the government said.

Vietnam's coffee crop is safe as most of the trees are planted on hillsides in the Central Highlands that account for 80 per cent of Vietnam's coffee, industry officials say. The hilly terrain would also help flush water away quickly.

Tropical storms and typhoons often strike Vietnam from August to October. Last year, 10 storms hit the country and about 500 people were killed by floods and landslides, the government said.

The weekend storm was the second of six expected to hit Vietnam this year, state forecasters said.

Reuters>