Prolonged downpours have led to flooding which has killed seventeen people and left six others missing in the northern province of Quang Ninh over the past three days, local authorities said. The calamity is considered the worst of its kind in the last 40 years, with rainfall totals of up to 870 mm recorded in Cua Ong Ward, Cam Pha City, according to the National Center for Hydro-Metrological Forecasting. Floodwaters have isolated many residential areas, submerged nearly 3,000 houses, damaged traffic infrastructure, uprooted trees and caused serious landslides in many locations. As of Tuesday afternoon, the flooding had caused total damage of nearly VND1 trillion (US$45.8 million), local authorities said, citing initial statistics.

Floodwaters heavily submerge Cao Thang Street in Ha Long City, Quang Ninh Province. Photo: Tuoi Tre 

Of the dead, eight came from a family of nine in Cao Thang Ward, Ha Long City, whose house was ravaged by swift floodwaters on Tuesday morning.

The only survivor is Cao Tien Vy, 37, while his 36-year-old wife, 10-year-old daughter and 75-year-old mother died. Vy is being treated at the Quang Ninh Province General Hospital.

A house is submerged to its roof in Bai Chay Ward, Ha Long City, Quang Ninh Province. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Three other victims – a 27-year-old mother and her two children, seven and four years old – drowned in floodwaters that submerged their house in Cam Pha on Monday.

In another incident, two men, both 30, were found dead when a house they were staying in collapsed in Bai Chay Ward, Ha Long yesterday.

The four remaining dead victims include Dam Van Gioi, a man aged 71 in Cao Thang, Ha Long; a 55-year-old woman in the same ward; and two other women in Hong Ha and Hong Hai Wards of the same city.

Rescuers are seen searching for victims in an area hit by a landslide. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Meanwhile, local rescuers are searching for six people who have gone missing over the past three days, authorities said. On Tuesday night, heavy rains continued to pummel Ha Long, Cam Pha and Mong Cai Cities, Van Don District and some other localities, and many residential areas were still isolated by floodwaters.

Landslides and rockslides have occurred in many mountainous areas in the province over the past three days.

Floodwaters have immersed and damaged numerous roads in the province, including National Highway 18, since Sunday, obstructing traffic, authorities reported.

The scene of a rockslide caused by floodwaters in Quang Ninh. Photo: Tuoi Tre

The provincial government has deployed nearly 3,000 people and about 100 vehicles to inundated areas to rescue people and move them to safe places, Secretary of the Quang Ninh Party Committee Nguyen Van Doc told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper last night. By Tuesday evening, about 3,500 people in heavily flooded areas had been evacuated, Doc said. The provincial People’s Committee has asked the Military Zone 3 to provide local forces with personnel, specialized equipment and amphibious tanks for use in rescue activities, he added.

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