ZCZC
BFF-21
FLOOD-LAOS
Flood kills 2 in northern Laos
VIENTIANE, Sept 5, 2018 (BSS/Xinhua) -After recent torrential rain, floods have killed two more people in northern Laos’ Huaphan and Luang Prabang provinces while another three people are still missing.
In Huaphan, 310 km northeast of capital Vientiane, the districts of Xamneua, Huameuang and Xamtay were affected by flash floods and one person in Xamneua district was killed, local daily Vientiane Times on Wednesday quoted local authorities as saying.
Deputy Governor of Xamneua district, Kikonovanh Bounsongkham, told Vientiane Times on Tuesday “We have had several days of flooding, in which a 67-year-old woman died in Meuangyued village. Some 148 houses in 52 villages of the district have been affected and 42 houses have been damaged.”
A flash flood hit Xiengngeun district in Luang Prabang province, some 220 km north of Vientiane, on Friday.
Head of the Labor and Social Welfare Office in Xiengngeun district, Phetdavanh Souliyamath, said “Three villages in the district were affected by flooding and many houses were damaged. Authorities found the body of a child and three people are still missing.”
In another norther province of Oudomxay, 210 houses and two schools were damaged, while 161 villages housing 7,896 families and 6,300 hectares of farmland were affected by floods.
In Thakhaek district, Khammuan province of central Laos, 61 villages with 2,812 families were affected by floods, the district’s Deputy Governor Khampeng Duanglaty said. The flooded area included 445 hectares of rice fields and 21 hectares of other agricultural land.
Livestock was also lost, including 22 goats, 17 cows, seven pigs, one buffalo, and 300 ducks and chickens.
The capital Vientiane and other provinces, namely Borikhamxay, Khammuan, Savannakhet, Champassak and Vientiane, have also been put on alert as rivers rise to danger levels.
Formerly at the end of August, Luang Prabang province also reported six people dead with a total of 916 households and 58 villages in five districts suffering damage from flooding.
According to a earlier report dated to mid-August, flooding caused by storms in Laos had killed at least 46 people while 97 other people are missing, while 14 provinces, out of the country’s 18 provinces, were affected by floods after tropical storms Son-Tinh and Bebinca brought torrential rain from the middle of July to the middle of August.
BSS/XINHUA/AU/10:10 hrs