HANOI - Drought-stricken central Vietnam issued a flood alert as rains triggered by an approaching typhoon, Muifa, swelled rivers and swept away at least one person, officials said on Thursday.
Rains started this week in the central region, bringing relief to rice farmers who had faced drought since September.
"The province has issued a high flood alert as upstream waters are pouring in. We are now on 24-hour guard," said a disaster management official from the coastal province of Quang Ngai.
A 31-year-old man died when he was swept away on Tuesday in the province, the official said.
The typhoon destroyed 200 houses in the southern region where one sailor was reported missing after the boat he was on capsized in the storm, state media said on Thursday.
The flood alert covered four provinces.
Low-lying areas in Thua Thien Hue province were inundated. Trucks climbing a pass on the north-south Highway One stalled in the rain, snarling traffic, television reported.
The typhoon, downgraded to a tropical storm, had shifted away from Vietnam into the Gulf of Thailand by Thursday.
The central region incorporating the Central Highlands coffee belt is not a key area for rice.
Vietnam is the world's second biggest exporter of the grain after Thailand, and the largest producer of robusta coffee.
The agriculture ministry put drought damage at $36.8 million, mainly of rice, corn and cotton in the central provinces and the Central Highlands.
Vietnam is normally hit by seven to eight tropical storms a year which trigger flash floods in the central region. In October and November last year nearly 100 people were killed in floods.
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
