Vietnam flooding kills 20, leaves over a dozen missing

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Vietnam flooding kills 20, leaves over a dozen missing

2018-07-24 15:33 Last Updated At：15:33

Flooding triggered by a tropical storm has killed at least 20 people and left over a dozen missing in northern Vietnam, local media reports said.

Ten people drowned in floods caused by heavy rain in Yen Bai province after Tropical Storm Son Tinh hit the country's northern region last week, the Tuoi Tre newspaper reported.

In Thanh Hoa province, a flash flood swept through a small village in Lang Chanh district and carried away a dozen stilt houses on Thursday.

"The floods came so quick and gave us so little time to escape," said local resident Luong Van Hung. "Some managed to run to high ground, but others got swept away in the floods."

The floods took away a family of four as they were sleeping, said Nguyen Xuan Hong, chairman of Lang Chanh district. Two people were found dead in the debris left by the flooding while the body of the family's 5-year-old daughter was recovered on Monday morning in a stream 3 kilometers (2 miles) from their home.

A rescue group of 300 people was looking for the fourth member of the family, who is still missing, Hong said.

Casualties were also reported in Phu Tho, Lao Cai, Hoa Binh and Son La provinces, where heavy rain caused landslides and cut off roads.

The rain stopped over the weekend, but the national weather forecast agency said another tropical depression is heading toward northern Vietnam this week.

Vietnam is prone to destructive storms and floods that kill hundreds of people every year.

AP PHOTOS: Millions of tons of plastic foul the world around us

2024-11-28 15:35 Last Updated At：15:41

On a Philippines beach, barefoot children jumped and played on shoals of plastic washed ashore in previous typhoons.

Much of the world’s plastic garbage winds up in rivers that eventually carry it into the oceans. Along the way, it’s often ingested by fish, birds and other wildlife, like the trio of coots picking their way through the plastic refuse cluttering a Serbian river.

Plastic, a wondrously versatile material that can be contorted into endless shapes useful in everything from construction to packaging, is also a scourge.

It’s a problem that nations are trying to tackle in South Korea, where a final round of negotiations is underway on a legally binding treaty aimed at solutions.

Its use has exploded in the last half century, and global production is projected to reach 736 million tons by 2040, up 70% from 2020, without policy changes, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Only about 9% of that is recycled, and much of the rest winds up in the world all around us.

In Johannesburg, South Africa, a net trapped plastic garbage on the Juksei River, giving volunteers a chance to clean it up.

In Jakarta, Indonesia, roadside garbage piled so high it threatened to elbow its way into traffic. And in a New Delhi shanty town, with seemingly every inch of the landscape choked with plastic waste, bags awaited sorting by collectors who hope to resell it.

And in Saint-Marc, Haiti, a boy took in an ocean sunset from a perch surrounded by plastic and other garbage.

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