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Rescue teams in Vietnam rushed on Saturday to locate more than a dozen people still unaccounted for after a week of severe flooding that has claimed at least 55 lives.
The country has endured persistent downpours across its south-central regions since late October, with several popular tourist areas suffering repeated floods.
Large parts of the coastal city of Nha Trang were submerged earlier in the week, while deadly landslides swept through mountain passes near the highland resort town of Da Lat.
According to a statement released on Saturday by the environment ministry, six provinces have recorded fatalities since Sunday, with 13 people still missing.
Dak Lak, a mountainous province, has borne the brunt of the disaster, with more than 20 deaths confirmed.
State media reported that rescuers were still retrieving stranded residents from rooftops and treetops on Friday as water levels continued to recede.
Although conditions improved slightly by Saturday, several major highways remained blocked, and around 300,000 people were still without electricity, down from more than one million affected by the initial outage, the ministry said.
Vietnam’s national statistics office reported that natural disasters have resulted in 279 deaths or disappearances and caused over $2 billion in economic losses between January and October.
While heavy rainfall is common between June and September, scientists say human-induced climate change is contributing to a rise in the frequency and severity of extreme weather across the country.
