Nov 14, 2007, 11:11 GMT
Hanoi - Floods triggered by heavy rains have put more than 150,000 houses under water and cut Vietnam's main north-south railway system as the death toll reached 33, officials said Wednesday.
Soldiers lead families in a boat to safety after they were stranded by flooding in the central city of Danang, Vietnam, 13 November, 2007. EPA/XUAN QUANG/VNA
Landslides caused by floods have buried large sections of the north-south railway in more than 5,000 cubic metres of soil in Thua Thien-Hue province, according to Vuong Dinh Khanh, deputy director of the Vietnam Railway Corporation.
The railway is still operating trains between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City but has to use buses to transport passengers between Thua Thien-Hue and Danang to avoid the flooded and blocked railway sections.
'Our workers are clearing mud and soil away and we hope that the railway transport will be back to normal this weekend,' Khanh said.
Floods have killed at least 33 people in central Vietnam since the weekend, the fourth time the area has been hit by floods this year, according to Van Phu Chinh, head of the Flood and Storm Department in the central region.
Quang Nam province suffered the highest human loss, with at least 14 people reported killed and one missing, according to Tran Van Binh with the province's flood and storm department.
Floods have also inundated 187,800 houses and 410 hectares of rice fields in central provinces, according to the Central Flood and Storm Department.
Rains have started to slow down in most of the central provinces and the rainfall is forecast to range between 20 and 30 millimeters within the next 24 hours. The rainfall reached 255 millimeters in Thua Thien Hue, 198 millimeters in Quang Ngai and 167 millimeters in Danang on Tuesday.
At least 200 people have been killed by floods in central Vietnam since the beginning of October this year, including around 90 people killed in the Storm Lekima and the floods it triggered.
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