Nov. 23 (UPI) — More than 100 people are feared dead in Vietnam in landslides and torrential flooding in recent days, according to the Vietnamese Department of Dyke Management and Disaster Prevention and Control.
The Vietnamese agency said in a statement that at least 102 people were reported dead or missing as of Monday, including 91 confirmed deaths across the central and Central Highlands provinces of Vietnam. Eleven people remain missing, including two in Đà Nẵng, eight in Đắk Lắk and one in Khánh Hòa.
At least 221 houses collapsed and 933 more were damaged, the majority in Lâm Đồng. In total, an estimated 201,000 homes were affected by flooding, officials said, the majority of which were in Đắk Lắk.
Officials said that the flooding also damaged about 317 square miles of rice farms, while about 452 square miles of perennial crops were also damaged. Additionally, about 3.3 million farm animals were also killed or swept away.
The flooding has caused erosion to major highways and other road ways, leading to long traffic jams as people seek to recover from the disaster.
Authorities said some 1.1 million customers initially lost power during the flooding, with some 258,000 still without power, primarily in Đắk Lắk.
The government estimated that the flooding has caused some $496 million in damage across the country.
On Monday, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh signed an official dispatch requesting federal ministries and local governments to prioritize disaster recovery efforts.
“Recently, in the south-central region, there have been exceptionally heavy and prolonged floods, causing major floods and historic inundations, landslides in many localities, especially in the provinces of Dak Lak, Khanh Hoa, Gia Lai and Lam Dong,” the dispatch reads.
It said that the disaster had was “seriously affecting the psychology and emotions” of Vietnamese residents.
