Hanoi (VNA) – The death toll in northern mountainousprovinces and part of the central region during widespread floods caused by torrentialrains on October 10 and 11 climbed to 29 people as of 5 pm on October 11.

According to statistics of the National Committee for Search and Rescue,the fatalities included eight people in Thanh Hoa, six each in Nghe An, HoaBinh, five in Son La and four in Yen Bai.

21 others are missing, with nine people in Yen Bai and five in Hoa Binh.

Among the missing in Yen Bai there was a 29-year-old journalist of the VietnamNews Agency correspondent. He was swept away while reporting the floodsituation in Nghia Lo township of Yen Bai.

Hoa Binh province had to declare an emergency state on the morning ofOctober 11. Heavy rains caused landslides in Mai Chau and Da Bac districtswhile many roads are under water.

[Downpours cause road damage, thr⭕eaten reservoirs]

More than 5,110 householdsin the central provinces of Thanh Hoa, Nghe An and Ha Tinh have to evacuatefrom their homes in low-lying and landslide-prone areas. The northern provinceof Ninh Binh is also moving residents in vulnerable areas in 12 communes of NhoQuan and Gia Vien districts.

At a meeting of the Central Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Preventionand Control on late October 11, Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dunginstructed local authorities to continue evacuating people in high-risklocations, look for missing people and provide support for households of floodvictims. All agencies need to ensure safety of reservoirs and quickly repairthe railways and roads, he added.

The rains over the past few days were brought by a tropical low pressuresystem which landed in central coastal provinces from Ha Tinh to Quang Binh onOctober 10. The rainfall was measured at between 100mm-150mm. In particular,some areas in Hoa Binh reporting rainfalls of 420mm (Mai Chau district), 350mm(Kim Boi district) and 200mm (Hoa Binh city).-VNA