Hanoi - The death toll from floods in central Vietnam rose sharply to 42 people Thursday as residents assessed the damage and remote provinces reported casualties, officials said. "Most of them drowned or were washed away by floodwater while some were stricken by lightning," said Nguyen The Luong, head of the Flood and Storm Control Department.
At least 13 other people were missing in central Dak Lak, Quang Binh and Ha Tinh provinces, Luong added.
The floods, fuelled by heavy rains from a tropical storm off Vietnam's coast earlier this week, have caused damage estimated at more than 1 trillion dong (66 million dollars), according to initial reports from the seven provinces affected.
Much of the damage came from inundated coffee fields in Dak Lak province, one of the largest coffee-growing areas in Vietnam, where about 600 billion dong in crops were lost.
Ha Tinh province, which is 350 kilometres south of Hanoi, suffered the most human losses with 16 people having been confirmed dead and one missing, said Bui Le Bac with the province's flood and storm department.
In Dak Lak, 350 kilometres north of Ho Chi Minh City, heavy rains and floods killed 14 people and left seven missing, said Phan Thu Hien, an official of the province's flood and storm department.
The floodwaters have also destroyed 353 houses.
So far this year, floods have killed at least 51 people in Vietnam. More than 600 people were killed last year in Vietnam by storms and floods.
