Torrential rains have triggered severe flooding in central Vietnam, killing at least nine people and leaving five missing, according to authorities.
The government said in a statement on Wednesday that six of the fatalities were in the coastal city of Da Nang and in the ancient city of Hoi An.
The floods have also injured 11 people, Vietnam’s civil defence agency said in a report.
The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment said the rain caused more than 150 landslides, inundated 2,200 hectares (5,400 acres) of crops and flooded 103,525 houses.
In a separate report, the government’s disaster agency said most of the inundated houses were in the tourist sites of Hue and Hoi An, which were still being lashed with rain on Wednesday.
In Hue, a UNESCO-listed former imperial capital, 32 out of 40 communes had been submerged by floodwaters, impacting 35,000 households. The army mobilised more than 6,000 officers and soldiers to evacuate 3,238 people from the city.
Photos circulating on state media showed that much of Hoi An remained inundated by floodwater with several houses submerged up to their roofs.
Nearby Da Nang has seen more than 75,000 households inundated. The Environment Ministry said the city’s rivers had swollen to alarming levels.
Rainfall in the area hit a record high of more than 1,000mm (40 inches) in a 24-hour period ending late on Monday, the agency said.
Heavy rain will continue in central Vietnam over the next two days with rainfall in some areas staying above 400mm (16 inches) from early Wednesday until late on Thursday, according to the government’s weather forecasting agency.
Vietnam is prone to deadly storms and flooding that cause widespread property damage, especially during the storm season from June to October.
Scientists say human-driven climate change is making extreme weather such as storms and floods more deadly and destructive.
Disasters – mostly storms, floods and landslides – have left 187 people dead or missing in Vietnam in the first nine months of this year.
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