16 dead in Mekong flooding

16 dead in Mekong flooding

HANOI (AFP): Sixteen people, 15 of them children, have died in flooding in southern Vietnam's Mekong delta this month, an official from the flood control committee in a southern province said yesterday.

All the sixteen deaths took place in An Giang province, which has been the worst hit so far.

Floodwaters inundated some 160,000 houses and forced nearly 12,000 families to leave their homes. More than 150,000 children in the delta provinces of An Giang, Dong Thap and Long An had to quit schools because classrooms were inundated, the official said.

More than 35 bridges were carried away by the floodwaters, which also badly damage roads and dikes, the official added.

The Mekong waters are continuing to rise, he said, adding that this may cause further casualties and mean hunger for tens of thousands of families now facing serious shortages of food.

Vietnam has been seriously hit since summer by typhoons, storms and floods. A Red Cross spokesman said yesterday that at least 500 people had been killed in storms and floods throughout the country in the last two months and losses have been estimated at US$300 million. More damage is likely the next two months as the Mekong reaches its peak.