The death toll from flash floods and landslides triggered by torrential rain in Vietnam's central provinces has climbed to 58, local authorities said.  

Another person was still missing Sunday morning after severe floods hit nine provinces (Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Binh Dinh, Gia Lai, Phu Yen, Khanh Hoa, Ninh Thuan, Lam Dong, Binh Thuan), cutting off several villages and burying sleeping people alive.

"Tens of thousands houses were submerged and over 3,000 of them collapsed or were completely destroyed. More than 30,000 ha of rice crops, thousands of industrial crops and subsidied crops were also damaged," an official from Committee for Flood and Storm Control in Central province told AFP.

It was unclear whether coffee crops, mainly located in upper areas notably in Gia Lai and Dak Lak provinces, were really badly damaged or not.

It is the second time within weeks the region has been hit by torrential floods. At least 44 people died in October in the same area.

Breaches and landslides occurred along river embankments, dykes and irrigation canals that had been repaired after October's floods. Nearly 200 dykes were destroyed, the Committee's official added.

"Every year, after the flooding season, we have another lesson to learn about how to prepare ourselves against this natural disaster. But no matter how hard we try, sometimes, we still can not avoid losses, because the weather is unpredictable," he admitted.

Several hundred police and soldiers have been working with helicopters and boats to help local authorities reach villages which have been particularly badly hit.

An official from the worst hit Ninh Thuan Province said 11 people died.

"We also lost nearly all the shrimp farms as they were either submerged or swept away to the sea," he added.

Vietnam's troubles are yet not over, as tropical storm Nepartak, which pounded the central Philippines early Friday, killing four people and leaving millions without electricity, is expected to hit Vietnam within days.

"Around seven or eight hundred soldiers and policemen are working in all the villages in the province to make sure that local people could be back to their lives as soon as possible and at the same time brace ourselves against the threaten of a new storm," the official from Ninh Thuan said.

Saturday, another civil servant of the province said everybody was exhausted.

"We are all very tired now, but we are not allowed to relax because another storm is threatening to hit the area. We are getting ready for a new fight," he had said.

According to World Bank figures, natural disasters have cost Vietnam US$1.25 billion between 1995 and 2002.

(China Daily November 16, 2003)