HANOI, June 2 (Xinhua) -- Northern Vietnam is forecast to experience more floods, especially flash floods, and landslides this year than last year.
Vietnam's northern region is likely to face more spells of torrential rain, especially from June to August, and more flash floods in mountainous areas, Vietnam's National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting said on Friday.
To date, 14 out of 18 northern localities have completed appraisal and warning of areas prone to flash floods and landslides, but managed to relocate only half of the local households, according to the Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
Last year, the northern region was hit by 24 cold spells, and many floods and landslides, which left 109 people dead or missing, and caused property losses of some 5,800 billion Vietnamese dong (257 million U.S. dollars), said the ministry.
In the first five months of this year, in Vietnam, natural disasters killed nine people and injured 16 others, damaged over 5,000 houses and 8,700 hectares of rice and other food crops, and caused losses of some 248 billion Vietnamese dong (11 million U.S. dollars), according to the country's General Statistics Office.
