An eight-month-old baby died on Wednesday when his house collapsed due to torrential rain and whirlwinds in Phieng Bung Village. On the same day, a four-year-old girl in Phuc Thuan Commune was swept away by floods. Local rescue teams found her body after a two-hour search, which was difficult due to the heavy rain.

Due to the storm, 10 people were injured in the provinces of Lang Son, Hai Phong and Nghe An. A 46-year-old woman is still missing after being swept away by floods in Thai Nguyen Province.

The Viet Nam Red Cross Society will support the family of each victim in northern mountainous Lang Son Province with VND3 million (US$141). The Lang Son Red Cross Society previously provided VND2 million ($94) to each family.

The storm blew away the roofs of 790 houses, damaged more than 42,000ha of rice and nearly 9,800ha of crops, inundated 200 ha of aquaculture farms and caused about 3,400 trees to fall in northern provinces, according to the Central Committee for Flood and Storm Control. In Ha Giang alone, the initial damage was estimated to be about VND4 billion (US$189,000).

Nguyen Dinh Hop, director of the provincial Centre for Hydro-meteorological Forecasting, said that torrential rains triggered by the storm on Tuesday night had raised the water level of the Lo River, causing heavy floods and submerging rice and crops. Torrential rains also inundated houses, schools and streets, disrupting the lives of local residents in Ha Giang City for days.

By 4pm yesterday, the water level of the Lo River was 103.46 metres, 0.46 metres higher than the highest alert level. The National Centre for Hydro-meteorological Forecasting warned yesterday that water levels in the Lo, Cau and Chay rivers were still rising.

Northern mountainous provinces Lao Cai, Ha Giang, Tuyen Quang and Thai Nguyen have been put on high alert for landslides and flash floods.

VNS/VNN