Heavy rains, whirlwinds injure six people

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Heavy rains, accompanied by whirlwinds, have injured at least six people, destroyed thousands of houses and damaged hundreds of hectares of crops in several northern, central and central highlands localities.

The calamity hit the northern mountainous provinces of Ha Giang, Lai Chau, Son La, Lao Cai and Yen Bai, central Binh Dinh province and the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak on April 30 and May 1, causing economic losses amounting to tens of billions of Vietnam dong.

One child in Tan An ward, Nghia Lo town, Yen Bai province, was injured while 3,600 houses in the locality were destroyed, and nearly 200 hectares of rice, corn and vegetable crops were devastated.

Lao Cai province was also battered by this natural disaster, with Nam Det commune in Bac Ha district being hardest hit. The commune saw roofs of up to 90 percent of its houses having blown away.

Strong winds left two people in Bao Yen district injured, broke down power lines and poles, causing blackout on a large scale, and damaged about 60 percent – 80 percent of houses in Vinh Yen, Xuan Hoa and Nghia Do communes.

In Son La province, the downpour and whirlwinds injured three people, destroyed 42 houses, sank 14 boats and affected 19 fish-breeding cages.

At the same time, landslides triggered by whirlwind and hailstones stranded traffic in many routes in Ha Giang province.

The hailstones and whirlwind was reported the hardest ever to beat the mountainous district of An Lao in central Binh Dinh province with the damage bill estimated at hundreds of millions of Vietnam dong.

Local authorities are carrying out disaster relief work to help people in affected areas soon stabilise their lives.