At least 12 people have been killed in rain-triggered disasters in neighbouring Vietnam and China, where flash floods and landslides destroyed homes, buried residential buildings, and left dozens missing.
In Vietnam, at least four people were killed and four others remained missing after a flash flood swept through Muong Than village in the northern province of Lai Chau early on Friday.
Seven other people were injured after days of heavy rain battered northern parts of the country, and authorities warned that additional downpours could trigger more flash floods and landslides over the weekend.
The rain also triggered landslides that damaged roads, power infrastructure, hundreds of homes and 238 hectares of farmland across the region, Vietnam’s disaster management agency said.
The flooding was part of a wider weather emergency affecting Lai Chau and neighbouring Son La province. Overnight rain caused torrents of water to surge down mountains more than 1,000 metres high before sweeping across a major highway linking communities in north-west Vietnam, collapsing several two-storey homes, tearing apart sections of the road and cutting off communities, according to a VnExpress report.
The National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting said the Phuc Than monitoring station recorded 206mm of rainfall in the 24 hours to 9am on Friday, with most of it falling overnight.
More than 200 police officers were deployed to the affected areas to search for survivors and evacuate residents. Among those caught in the flooding was a family of four whose home was swept away by the current. The father was later found more than a kilometre downstream with a broken leg, while rescuers continued searching for his wife and two children.
Two others stranded by rapidly rising water were rescued and taken to a local health station.
The flooding swept away 15 homes in Chit village in north-west Vietnam and left vehicles buried beneath rocks, mud, and fallen trees, while neighbouring Son La province was hit by landslides that destroyed three homes and damaged 14 others, according to VietnamNet Global.
In one village, an elderly woman and her four grandchildren were trapped when a landslide buried their house but were rescued alive by emergency responders.
The National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting has warned that northern Vietnam is expected to receive another 60mm to 120mm of rain through Sunday, with isolated areas forecast to receive more than 250mm.
The agency added that already saturated ground across northern Vietnam, particularly in the provinces of Lai Chau, Dien Bien, Son La and Lao Cai, had significantly increased the risk of further landslides and flash floods.
The region’s rainy season typically runs from July to September and the Vietnam is among countries regularly hit by flooding and landslides during this period. Government figures show natural disasters, most of them floods, killed 489 people last year.
Across the border in southern China, at least eight were killed and 34 remained missing after a rain-triggered landslide buried more than 10 residential buildings in Pengshui county, in Chongqing municipality, on Friday.
The collapse struck Pengshui at about 9.08am after community workers noticed rocks falling from the hillside about an hour earlier and began evacuating residents. More than 60 people were moved to safety before the slope gave way, although several people remained trapped beneath the debris when the landslide destroyed multiple buildings, reported Global Times.
More than 1,100 people have since been relocated from the surrounding area as continuing rain and unstable ground complicated rescue efforts on Saturday.
Rescue teams plan to search around the largest rocks before drilling into them and using controlled explosives to break them apart in an effort to reach anyone trapped underneath, reported Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.
China’s Ministry of Emergency Management dispatched a specialist rescue team with 100 personnel and 50 pieces of specialised equipment to assist with search operations. The National Development and Reform Commission allocated 30 million yuan (£3.29m) to help restore damaged infrastructure and public services.
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