Vietnam flooding kills at least 90

HANOI:

Heavy rain, severe flooding and landslides in Vietnam have killed at least 90 people in the last week, authorities said Sunday, leaving others stranded on rooftops and mountain roadways blocked.

Relentless rain has lashed south-central Vietnam since late October and popular holiday destinations have been hit by several rounds of flooding, with economic losses estimated in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Whole sections of coastal Nha Trang city were inundated last week, while deadly landslides struck highland passes around the Da Lat tourist hub.

In the hard-hit mountainous province of Dak Lak, 61-year-old farmer Mach Van Si said the floodwaters left him and his wife stranded on their sheet-metal rooftop for two nights. "Our neighborhood was completely destroyed. Nothing was left. Everything was covered in mud," he told AFP on Sunday.

By the time they climbed a ladder to their roof, Si said he was no longer scared.

"I just thought we were going to die because there was no way out," he said.