Flooding said to be the worst in three decades continues to savage central Viet Nam, claiming 21 lives so far, while authorities and residents hunt down hundreds of crocodiles let loose by flood waters last weekend in Khanh Hoa.
 |
| Sai Gon Giai Phong readers' aid reaches the flood victims in central Viet Nam. |
In central Quang Nam province, six of 17 districts are flooded, 15,000 households are displaced and hundreds of hectares of farm land has been seriously damaged.
In the province’s historic Hoi An town, nine of 13 wards are under 1-5 metres of water.
Local authorities have sent canoes and helicopters to evacuate victims, 10,000 of whom have been moved to higher ground.
National Highway 1a is completely blocked by water.
In Dai Loc District, four have died and over 90 percent of homes are flooded, as is the case in Phu Vang District’s Phu Mau Commune.
Cam Kim Commune is completely isolated and some 6,000 inhabitants are awaiting helicopters.
In Duy Xuyen District’s Duy Hai Commune, 65 fishing boats have been swept out to sea.
In the city of Da Nang, tens of thousands of families in Ngu Hanh Son, Cam Le and Hoa Vang districts started to evacuate at 4am yesterday.
One fifth of Ngu Hanh Son District is seriously flooded. About 22,000 homes are under a meter of water and 100,000 people displaced.
In Quang Tri province, the Provincial Ta Rut – La Lay Route saw thousands of cubic meters of soil washed over it, totally obstructing traffic.
In Quang Ngai, eight have died. Communication lines in Binh Son, Tay Tra, Tra Bong, Son Tay and Ba To districts are done while traffic has come to a standstill on National Highway No 24 in Ba To.
The province has evacuated 1,100 households and distributed 2,000 tons of rice to victims.
The flood has claimed six lives in Binh Dinh Province, one person is missing, 13 houses have collapsed and 2,380 others are flooded.
Big, fast, ferocious reptiles add to woes
Authorities and locals in Khanh Hoa Province are also working round the clock hunting hundreds of crocodiles freed by floodwaters from the Yang Bay Alligator Farm last Saturday.
The farm, which housed some 5,000 crocodiles, belongs to state-owned Khatoco, a company specializing in paper, tobacco, apparel and crocodile-skin products.
To date, 65 croc’s have been shot dead or captured. Five adult and 47 young croc’s have been captured by locals and sold back to Khatoco. Soldiers shot eight dead. Five others are believed to have been either eaten or sold to markets.
Luckily, no-one has been reported bitten or bashed by a crocodile to date.
Dinh Van Lanh, a farmer-turned-crocodile-hunter happily told Sai Gon Giai Phong he captured eight croc’s in just six hours the day before yesterday.
He complained Khatoco buys the alligators back for just VND20,000 per kg while other companies are ready to pay VND50,000.
 |
| A crocodile is recaptured. |
