At least 90 people have been killed and another 12 remain missing after days of torrential rain triggered widespread flooding and landslides across Vietnam.
According to government officials, around 186,000 homes nationwide have been damaged, while more than three million livestock have been swept away. Authorities estimate the total losses to be worth hundreds of millions of pounds.
The mountainous province of Dak Lak has been among the worst affected, recording more than 60 deaths since 16 November, AFP reports.
The flooding marks yet another bout of extreme weather for Vietnam, following typhoons Kalmaegi and Bualoi, which struck the country only weeks apart. By Sunday morning, some 258,000 people were without electricity, and key sections of major highways and railway lines remained blocked.
Military and police forces have been deployed to support rescue and relief operations in the most severely hit regions.
Officials say the greatest damage has been concentrated in five provinces — Quang Ngai, Gia Lai, Dak Lak, Khanh Hoa and Lam Dong — clustered in Vietnam’s south and south-central regions.
Mach Van Si, a farmer from Dak Lak, described the devastation to AFP: “Our neighbourhood was completely destroyed. Nothing was left. Everything was covered in mud.”
Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính chaired a virtual emergency meeting on Sunday from South Africa, where he had been attending the G20 summit.
Rainfall in several areas exceeded 1.5m (5ft) in the days leading up to Friday, with some locations surpassing 5.2m — levels not recorded since 1993. Conditions are expected to improve as rain begins to ease.
Scientists warn that human-driven climate change is leaving Vietnam increasingly vulnerable to extreme weather, with typhoons becoming more frequent and more powerful.
