Hanoi (VNA) – Statisticsprovided by several northern and north central provinces show that by July 24,torrential rains, floods, and landslides left 29 people dead, five others missing,and 26 injured.

Of the dead, 15 were in thenorthern mountainous province of Yen Bai, six in the northern mountainousprovince of Son La, three in the northern midland province of Phu Tho, three inthe central province of Thanh Hoa, and the others in the northern mountainousprovinces of Lao Cai and Hoa Binh.

Meanwhile, two of the missing peoplewere from Yen Bai, two from Thanh Hoa, another from Phu Tho.

The natural disasters alsodestroyed and flooded 12,383 houses, killed and swept away 121,389heads of livestock, and affected 6,208 ha of aquaculture.

The Ministry of Transport’s SteeringCommittee for Natural Disaster Prevention, and Search and Rescue reported thatas of 4pm on July 23, traffic jams remained in some sections of nationalhighways in Thanh Hoa and Nghe An provinces due to landslides and flooding.

According to the Ministry ofAgriculture and Rural Development (MARD)’s Department of Crop Production and thelocalities, as of 7pm on July 23, many areas of rice and other food crops werestill inundated, including 42,606 ha of rice in the Red River Delta region.

Nguyen Duc Quang, Deputy Chief ofOffice of the Central Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention andControl, said that timely guidelines, plus the coordination and constructive participationof ministries, agencies, and localities, have helped ease losses caused bynatural disasters and can show how to stabilise the life of affected residents.

He did, however, underline theneed for more specific weather forecasting in terms of rainfall and the waterlevels of reservoirs.

The Central Steering Committeefor Natural Disaster Prevention and Control also sent delegations to the localitiesto inspect the situation, helping protect dykes, especially essential ones.

The provincial steering boardsfor natural disaster prevention, ad search and rescue also focused on handlingthe consequences of downpours, floods, and landslides; search and rescueoperations; food supply; environmental treatment; post-flood disease prevention;and production restoration, while keeping a close watch on the development of regionalweather movements.-VNA