13 people and over 2 million cattle killed while many missing as a storm hits Vietnam

The fourth heavy storm to hit Vietnam within a month, Typhoon Molave shredded off roofs, extracted trees and left millions without power in the central region, according to local media.

More than 89,000 homes were destroyed, the IFRC stated in a declaration on Thursday.

Twenty-six fishermen are also missing after their crafts sank when attempting to turn to port on Tuesday and two navy ships had been assembled to find them.

“The people of Vietnam are strong, yet this is among the most dangerous disruption ever seen in many cities,” Nguyen Thi Xuan Thu, president of the Vietnam Red Cross Organisation stated on Wednesday.

“The constant storms and flooding are becoming a disastrous human toll, further damaging livelihoods and detaching millions of people.”

She continued: “All our hard work in including the social and financial fallout of COVID-19 is being destroyed by these large storms hammering us one after the other.”

The IFRC has started an appeal for $4.2m to help those harmed, stating that at least 150,000 people were at critical danger of food deficiencies and starvation after floodwaters destroyed thousands of hectares of produces and killed more than two million cattle and poultry.

The back-to-back hurricanes have increased support teams to the limit, it added.

Molave reduced to a tropical depression after making landfall on Wednesday and is supposed to reach Laos later on Thursday.

Heavy rain of up to 700 millimetres (27.5 inches) will remain in parts of central Vietnam until Saturday, Vietnam’s climate agency announced.