ROUNDUP: Worst floods in 20 years hit Vietnam; 64 dead

Some of the worst floods to hit Vietnam in decades killed 64 people and submerged thousands of homes, officials said Monday. Entire villages were under several metres of water after heavy rains knocked out dykes and flood-control systems in many parts of northern and central Vietnam. With roads washed out by landslides, rescue workers were struggling to reach people in outlying villages. Boats and helicopters were being used to deliver dried noodles and water to people stranded on rooftops. At least 10 people were reported to be missing. The floods were triggered by rains from the slow-moving Typhoon Lekima, which was downgraded to a tropical depression after it hit the central provinces of Ha Tinh and Quang Binh Wednesday night. Officials said floodwaters in the northern province of Thanh Hoa and the central province of Nghe An are the highest they have been in more than 20 years. In the northern province of Son La, flash floods washed away 42 suspension bridges, and landslides buried roads under 600,000 cubic metres of mud and soil, said Cam Tan with the province's Flood and Storm Department. "Traffic to some districts has been stalled, so it's hard for us to deliver relief to the victims there," Tan said. The National Flood and Storm Department has asked the Ministry of Construction to clear roads and build temporary bridges to the remote and mountainous districts that have been isolated in the floods, said the director of the department, Nguyen The Luong. In some areas, the water has shifted so much soil that unexploded bombs dropped by the Americans during the Vietnam War in the 1960s and '70s have been exposed. According to the Youth newspaper, local authorities in Son La have diffused three of six 442-kilogram bombs unearthed in the past few days. Authorities are bracing for an outbreak of water-born illnesses, such as diarrhea and malaria, which start to be seen after a week of stagnate water. "So far, we haven't reported any disease outbreaks in the flooded areas, said Nguyen Huy Nga, director of the government's Preventive Health Department. "We are trying to provide medicines to the flooded areas, and doctors are standing by to deal with any diseases that might occur. We are also spraying antiseptic and mosquito repellents in the areas where floodwaters have receded." Typhoon Lekima initially killed seven people when it hit and caused at least 41 million dollars in damage, but it spawned floods and landslides that brought the death toll higher. According to the Central Flood and Storm Department, five days of floods and landslides have damaged 57,700 houses and destroyed 120,000 hectares of rice and crops. dpa mao ls