HANOI: Record floods submerged streets in several Vietnamese communities on Wednesday, with at least eight people killed this week according to the government.
Tens of thousands were left stuck at home or fleeing floodwaters that reached car tops and rooftops in Thai Nguyen city areas, about 80 kilometres north of the capital Hanoi.
The environment ministry confirmed eight people died in flash floods and landslides in Vietnam’s mountainous north since Monday, with five others reported missing.
By Wednesday morning, the Cau river running across Thai Nguyen city measured more than one metre higher than the previous record level of 28.81 metres set during Typhoon Yagi in September last year.
Social media users posted urgent pleas for help overnight Tuesday and Wednesday morning as relatives and friends remained stranded without electricity and with few provisions in Thai Nguyen, Cao Bang and Lang Son provinces.
“Our ground floor was totally flooded,“ Thoan Vu posted online. “My parents and five kids were stuck, with not enough food and water. No communication since late Tuesday. They need urgent help.”
The flooding followed heavy rain from Typhoon Matmo, which weakened on Monday while approaching Vietnam but hit the northern region hard.
Matmo struck just one week after Typhoon Bualoi triggered widespread flooding that killed at least 56 people and caused economic losses exceeding USD 710 million.
“I have never witnessed such a terrible flood since I was born 60 years ago,“ Nguyen Van Nguyen told AFP from his three-storey house in Thai Nguyen province. “There has never been flooding here in my street but now my ground floor is all submerged.”
The military deployed two helicopters to drop four tonnes of water, instant noodles, dry cake, milk and lifejackets to people in flooded parts of Lang Son province bordering China.
Human-driven climate change is intensifying extreme weather events like typhoons, making them increasingly deadly and destructive. – AFP