Flooding from storm Wipha cuts off hundreds in Vietnam
HANOI (AFP)Flooding caused by Tropical Storm Wipha left hundreds of families cut off in villages in central Vietnam on Wednesday, authorities said.Around 12,500 people were evacuated from high risk areas over the weekend, before the storm made landfall on Tuesday bringing heavy rains that triggered landslides and flash floods.Authorities in central Nghe An province said the Ban Ve hydropower plant - the biggest in the area - had to discharge water from its reservoir.Several communities were hit by water rising to rooftops on Tuesday night, forcing local residents to evacuate to higher ground.'Water levels this year were much higher and more terrible than what we considered a historic flooding in 1988,' resident Nguyen Thai Hung told the Dan Tri news site.More than 200 families in Yen Hoa commune were cut off after the main path to the village was damaged by flash floods, authorities said.Wipha killed at least six people on Friday in the Philippines, where tens of thousands were forced from their homes and parts of the capital Manila remained flooded on Tuesday.Experts say human-driven climate change is causing more intense weather patterns that can make destructive floods more likely.
A sudden whirlwind and abnormal weather pattern overturned a tourist boat in Vietnam's UNESCO area of Halong Bay on Friday, killing 37 people, including several children.
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