Flooding cuts off thousands in Vietnam

NGHIA DAN, Vietnam (Reuters) - A typhoon followed by floods and landslides killed up to 30 people in Vietnam with many missing and some villages cut off and inundated by water, officials said on Saturday.

A dyke on the Buoi river in the northern province of Thanh Hoa broke, causing extensive flooding, a government report said.

On Friday, officials said that police and soldiers helped move about 22,000 people to higher ground away from a dam in the same province.

Floods and landslides hit Thanh Hoa and central Nghe An province hardest in the days after typhoon Lekima swept in from the sea on Wednesday night, dumping torrential rain and wind blowing the roofs off thousands of dwellings.

Up to 30 people have been killed either by the typhoon or flooding, Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper quoted the national rescue committee as saying.

Seven people were killed in the storm and 11 others in flooding, the national Dyke Management, Flood and Storm Control Committee said earlier.

"The flooding and rain are still very unpredictable, so all provinces and agencies should follow instructions," a government report said on Saturday.

A Reuters cameraman and photographer said from central Nghe An province that although water levels receded Saturday, at least three villages were isolated because of roads made impassable by landslides.

Officials said they were having difficulty providing emergency supplies to thousands of people.

The government said preliminary damages from the typhoon, the fifth of 2007, stood at 659 billion dong ($41 million).

The storm and floods destroyed about 100,000 homes mainly in central provinces and 15,000 ha of rice crops.

The three-month flood and storm season often ends this month in Vietnam, which faces up to 10 storms a year, causing millions of dollars in damage and killing hundreds of people.

(Additional reporting by Nguyen Van Vinh and Nguyen Huy Kham)