FLASH floods in central Vietnam killed five people, damaged hundreds of homes, and ruined crops, disaster officials said Thursday (October 31), after Tropical Storm Trami dumped torrential rain throughout the country.
Trami struck central Vietnam on Sunday after blasting across the Philippines, killing more than 140 people.
The storm caused torrential downpours in Vietnam, swollen rivers, and power outages.
Five people were killed and five others injured in Quang Binh province on Thursday, according to an online report from the Ministry of Agriculture, as muddy floodwaters swept through numerous isolated communities.
More than 300 buildings and roughly 1,300 hectares of crops were damaged, according to the ministry.
Floodwaters nearly reached the rooftops of some one-story homes in isolated sections of Quang Binh, according to official media photos, while inhabitants in other communities toiled to clean dirty buildings.
The water levels in the area’s rivers are progressively falling, although numerous regions remain flooded.
Vietnam is vulnerable to tropical storms, which can cause devastating flash floods and landslides between June and November each year.
However, experts argue that human-caused climate change is producing increasingly severe weather patterns, which can increase the likelihood of disastrous floods.
Typhoon Yagi slammed northern Vietnam in September, killing 345 people and causing an estimated $3.3 billion in economic losses.