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Flash floods kill 11 in central Vietnam
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-11-27 12:40
Flash floods triggered by Typhoon Muifa have killed at least 11 people in
central Vietnam, officials said on Saturday.
Rains started this week in the central region, wreaking havoc, but no damage
has been reported to the harvest in the Central Highlands coffee belt.
"A red alert has been issued as floodwater is rising in all rivers in the
area," said a disaster management official from the coastal province of Quang
Ngai. He said at least four people from the province had been swept away in
flash floods.
Officials from neighboring provinces including Quang Nam, Thua Thien Hue and
Quang Tri said seven people had been killed.
State weather forecasters said floodwater levels in the Thach Han river in
Quang Tri province, around 372 miles south of the capital Hanoi, had peaked at a
year-high of 18.54 feet early on Saturday morning.
Weather forecasters reported only mild, occasional rains in the Central
Highlands coffee belt.
"The sprinkle has not affected the coffee harvest yet. There might be some
delay to the beans-drying process," said a coffee trader in Daklak, Vietnam's
key coffee growing province.
The central region incorporating the Central Highlands coffee belt is not a
key area for rice.
Vietnam is the world's second biggest exporter of the grain after Thailand,
and the largest producer of robusta coffee.
Low-lying areas in Thua Thien Hue province were inundated. Trucks and trains
stalled in the submerged national north-south highway.
Typhoon Muifa, downgraded to a tropical storm, had shifted from Vietnam into
the Gulf of Thailand by Thursday.
The Southeast Asian country is normally hit by seven to eight tropical storms
each year which trigger flash floods in the central region. In October and
November last year nearly 100 people were killed in floods.
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