Floods are rising fast in Ha Tinh after a heavy downpour hit the province this week, with more torrential rain and severe flooding poised to threaten central provinces in the coming days.

Thousands of households in the north-central province’s Huong Khe District have been flooded as of Tuesday morning, Le Quang Vinh, chief of the district’s flood and storm office said in an interview the same morning with Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.

Flood levels in the district have reached an alarming 13.55 meters, as a number of its communes have been completely cut off by the flooding, Vinh said.

Locals are moving around on boats, with 13 schools in the district forced to shut down temporarily.

The flooding was caused by a torrential rain that hit the province late Monday, with rainfall measuring up to 500 millimeters in some areas, according to Tran Duc Ba, director of the Ha Tinh Hydro-Meteorological Station.

The National Route 1 passing through Ky Anh District in Ha Tinh has been paralyzed in sections by the flood, as vehicles are trapped in flooded areas.

Heavy rains are forecast to continue across central provinces from Ha Tinh to Thua Thien-Hue until Saturday, with localities from Da Nang City southwards to Phu Yen Province poised to experience torrential rains in the same period, according to the central forecasting center.

Nguyen Huu Hoai, chairman of the People’s Committee of Quang Binh Province, on Monday afternoon advised residents to stock enough food and drinking water to last for seven days in order to brace themselves for the coming flood.

Photos taken by Tuoi Tre on the morning of November 1, 2016 of residents in Huong Khe District, Ha Tinh Province, moving their properties away from the flood:

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