At least 90 people have been killed in flooding in central Vietnam sparked by Tropical Storm Mirinae, which slammed into the country this week after pummelling the Philippines, officials said today.
A further 22 people were reported missing after the storm struck on Monday, destroying hundreds of homes and leaving more than 2,00,000 people stranded, according to regional officials who asked not to be named and local reports.
Television pictures from the provinces of Phu Yen and Gia Lai, which were among the worst hit regions along with Binh Dinh, showed rescuers in boats helping desperate residents escape some of the worst flooding there in decades.
Water in places reached up to the rooftops of buildings, where some residents had sought refuge. The VTV channel reported that 200,000 people were stranded in Binh Dinh province alone.
"It is the most devastating flooding in more than 30 years in Phu Yen," the national disaster committee said in a statement, after part of the province's system of Dykes was overwhelmed.
Rescue effort is being carried out by 2,000 soldiers deployed in the affected areas.
The national disaster committee said Mirinae, which hit the Philippines as a deadly typhoon at the weekend, had destroyed 700 homes and damaged more than 13,000 others when it hit Vietnam's central coastal areas on Monday.
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