Flooding, heavy rain kill three in Viet Nam

Three people died after days of heavy rain in Viet Nam. Hundreds of homes, crops and portions of the national highway and railway have been submerged in flood waters, disaster management authorities said on Tuesday.

Access to several communities in central Ha Tinh province has been cut off, while the police and military have been mobilized to rescue people from high-risk areas. Viet Nam is frequently lashed by harsh weather in the rainy season between June and November.

Natural disasters including floods and landslides have left 136 people dead or missing in the country since the beginning of the year, according to the General Statistics Office. More than 21,000 houses have been damaged, with more than 140,000 hectares of crops destroyed.