Flood in southern Vietnam claims 24 lives

Flood in Vietnam's southern Mekong river delta has claimed 24 lives, including 21 children, and injured another six as of Monday, according to the Central Committee for Storm and Flood Control. In addition, more than 57,500 houses were submerged, nearly 24, 000 hectares of rice and other crop fields inundated, hundreds of kilometers of road destroyed, and more than 2,000 hectares of fish rearing ponds damaged. Initial loss was estimated at about 950 billion Vietnamese dong (VND) (45.56 million U.S. dollars), said the report. The Hydro-Meteorology Forecast Centre (HFC) forecast the upstream Mekong river water level was reducing and that in the downstream area increasing slowly. By Oct. 13, the water level in the Dong Thap Muoi region and Long Xuyen Quadrangle would reach the highest level of 4.8 meters. Local authorities in the region were instructed to have around- the-clock patrols taken, and continue to reinforce the dykes and evacuate residents from areas prone to landslides. Meanwhile, HFC warned water level in rivers from central Ha Tinh to Binh Dinh provinces and in the Central Highlands would rise to emergency levels in the coming days.