Several serious landslides caused by a prolonged heavy rain in northern Vietnam’s Son La Province had killed three people, injured another, and left five others missing by Wednesday noon, local authorities reported.

The torrential rain began to strike the province on Tuesday night following the tropical depression that hit northern Quang Ninh Province on the morning of the same day, the Son La Province Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control and Search and Rescue said.

By 11:00 am on Wednesday, these landslides, triggered by the prolonged downpour, had killed three people in Son La's Mai Son District, injured another in Muong La District, and left five others missing, including four in Mai Son and the other in Thuan Chau District.

The deceased included a 29-year-old woman and two children aged eight and five years old, Nguoi Lao Dong (Laborer) newspaper reported, citing the committee. 

Rescuers are coordinating with local authorities to mobilize all possible resources to search for the missing.

“It's still raining and the road to the landslide scene has been completely blocked, so the rescue teams have yet to access it,” an official from Mai Son told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Wednesday noon.

Floodwaters from the downpour rose rapidly in Mai Son's Hat Lot Town, submerging many areas under nearly two meters of water, Thanh Nien (Young People) newspaper reported, citing Trinh Thi Thanh Huong, a local woman.

“Many people only had enough time to run away from their houses, leaving behind all their assets in a ‘sea of water’,” Huong narrated.

Besides the deadly landslides, the prolonged heavy rain has caused water levels in local rivers and streams to rise and flow rapidly, worsening the flooding in many streets and residential areas including those in the province’s namesake city. 

A lot of streets such as Tran Dang Ninh, Le Duan, Truong Chinh, and Nguyen Luong Bang were inundated under about a meter of water, breaking down vehicles and disrupting traffic.

Many heavily submerged areas looked like rivers, where rescuers had to use boats or ropes to help people get out from their houses and take them to a safe place. 

Pham Thi Mien, a 60-year-old resident in the city’s Quyet Thang Ward, said she lived alone in her house and could not get out of the house when the flooding rose high.

“Fortunately, rescuers detected my case and took me and my assets to a temporary safe shelter,” Mien told Tuoi Tre.

The Son La Province Fire Prevention and Fighting and Rescue Police Department has deployed nearly 100 rescuers to coordinate with other forces including police to provide support to people suffering from the serious flooding and transport them out of dangerous areas, said Colonel Nguyen Khac Ngoc, head of the department.

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