Scores die in worst Mekong flooding
Baku, September 30 (AZERTAC). More than 100 people in Cambodia and southern Vietnam have died in the worst flooding along the Mekong River in 11 years after heavy rain swamped homes, washed away bridges and forced thousands of people to evacuate.
Worse could be in store if Typhoon Nesat, which killed at least 39 people in China this week and is expected to pound northern Vietnam on Friday, dumps rain deep enough inland to further swell the Mekong.
Flooding across the fertile Mekong Delta helped drive rice prices to a three-year high in Vietnam this week, traders said, which will add to inflation problems. The delta produces more than half of Vietnam`s rice and 90 percent of its exportable grain.
In Cambodia, 97 people have died in weeks of flooding.
“Now, more than 494 200 acres of our rice paddies are under water but we don`t yet know the full extent of the damage,” said Keo Vy, deputy information director at the National Disaster Management Committee.
Cambodia is a minor rice exporter, but Vietnam is the world`s second-biggest exporter behind Thailand.
About 150 000 families had been affected by the flooding in Cambodia this year and another 15 000 evacuated to higher ground, said Men Neary Sopheak, deputy secretary general of Cambodia`s Red Cross.
Down river in Vietnam, at least nine people have died since seasonal floods arrived in the Delta in August, government and provincial disaster reports said. Floods had inundated nearly 3 800 houses and nearly 700 people were evacuated in An Giang province and the city of Can Tho.
Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai urged the provincial authorities to evacuate people from dangerous areas, speed up the rice harvest and close more schools to prevent deaths.
In Thailand, the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation said 180 people had died in flooding since mid-July caused by tropical storm Nock-Ten and seasonal monsoons.
Two million people in 23 provinces have been affected, with 2.4 million acres of farmland under water. Officials say rice has been harvested early in some areas, which may cut yields.
Flooding was reported in the night bazaar in the northern town of Chiang Mai, popular with tourists, and flash floods and landslides were reported in areas around town due to the high level of the Ping river, officials said.
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