68 dead, missing, injured in floods in northern localities

• Early floods threaten Mekong rice fields
• Authorities team up to offer relief to flooding victims
• Mu Cang Chai district ravaged by heavy flooding

The victims are from Yen Bai, Son La, Lai Chau, Dien Bien and Cao Bang, according to the Central Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control.

Son La province had the highest number of fatalities with 12 while Yen Bai had the highest number of missing persons with 13. 

Torrential rains and floods also swept away and collapsed 231 houses, damaged 245 houses, submerged 338.5 hectares of rice, and made 398 households leave their homes to safer places.

The intense floods also blew away over 25,000 cubic metres of national roads, 117,706 cubic metres of provincial and district roads; damaged 145 irrigation works and 2,072 metres of river dike, causing about over VND940 billion (US$41.36 million) in economic losses in the provinces.

The Committee asked relevant agencies, and provincial and municipal steering boards for natural disaster prevention, search and rescue to continue mobilising forces and vehicles to search for the missing, help the injured and visit the families of dead victims.

Resources should also be focused on helping repair damaged houses, clean the environment to prevent disease outbreaks, providing necessities for daily use, resuming production, and repairing traffic works.