Flash floods kill 9, leave 6 others missing in northern Vietnam

June 27, 2015 | 10:14

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Flash floods that occurred in the wake of Typhoon Kujira, which hit northeastern Vietnam on Wednesday, had killed nine people and injured six others as of Thursday, local authorities said.

An area of Cat Hai Island District in the northern city of Hai Phong is seen ahead of the landfall of Typhoon Kujira on June 24, 2015.<br /><span>Tuoi Tre</span>

Eight of the nine deaths occurred in Son La Province, the provincial Steering Committee for Disaster Prevention & Control and Search & Salvage said yesterday.

The victims were swept away in floodwaters created by downpours that came after the typhoon hit the area between Quang Ninh Province and Hai Phong City on Wednesday afternoon and then weakened into a tropical depression.

Three people are also missing in Thuan Chau and Moc Chau Districts in Son La, and six others were injured in other locales, the committee said.

Rescuers are searching for the three missing people.

Local authorities gave VND4.5 million (US$207) as initial support to each of the families of the dead.

Seventy houses were knocked down or swept away; 382 other houses were submerged; nearly 600 hectares of rice and other crops were inundated; six irrigation works, 12 bridges, and seven cars and nine motorbikes were also swept away by the floodwaters.

In Lai Chau Province, one person died and a 6-year-old child went missing during flashfloods that have lashed the province over the past two days, authorities reported.

The flooding also caused landslides in various localities, damaging many sections of a number of national highways and roads.

One of the landslides happened on National Highway 4D that runs through Phong Tho District, leaving a huge hole that is about 10 meters deep and covers an area of around 100m².

Meanwhile, Lao Cai authorities reported that two youngsters aged 12 and 17, of Thanh Phu Commune, had been swept away by the floodwaters while they were crossing the Nam Pa spring in Sa Pa District.

Heavy rains also broke a section of provincial road 152 that links Sa Pa and Thanh Phu.