Dien Bien (VNA) – Floods triggered by heavy rains on August15 and 16 caused a nine-year-old girl to go missing and damaged roads andhouses in the northern mountainous province of Dien Bien, added to the lossescaused by floods early this month.

Initial statistics from the provincial steering committee for naturaldisaster prevention and control also showed two were injured by landslides andproperty damage was estimated by more than 2.4 billion VND.  

Several key roads in Dien Bien were blocked by landslides, and 23families had to evacuate from their houses.

Torrential rains also caused streams in Son La northern province to swell,hindering efforts to transport relief goods to victims of the previous flashfloods, particularly in Muong La district.

Heavy rains and flash floods in early August took the lives of 26 peopleand left 15 others missing and 27 injured in northern mountainous provinces,mostly Yen Bai, Son La, Lai Chau, Dien Bien and Cao Bang, according to theCentral Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control.

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

Torrential rains and floods also swept away and destroyed 231 houses,damaged 245 others, submerged 338.5 hectares of rice, and forced 398 householdsto leave their homes.

The intense floods also swept away over 25,000 cubic metres of soil fromnational roads and 117,706 cubic metres from provincial and district roads;damaged 145 irrigation works and 2,072 metres of river dike, causing over 940billion VND (41.36 million USD) in economic losses in the provinces.-VNA