Vietnam Cleans Up After Deadly Flooding

Vietnam is cleaning up from deadly floods that killed at least 90 people in the past week.

Transcript

00:00Piles of soggy trash are about all that's left of Thuế Hoa Market in Vietnam's Đức Lạc province.

00:07This inland part of a country is one of several parts of Vietnam that have seen almost a month of heavy rain,

00:13bringing deadly floods and landslides that killed over 90 people in the last week.

00:20Some goods may be salvageable, but it's largely just muck and garbage.

00:24For many who make their living here, the damage is extreme.

00:27I lost almost everything, around 80%.

00:32The water came in and destroyed it all.

00:34Now I have to go home and sort things out.

00:37And whatever can't be saved will have to be thrown away.

00:41It's a real loss. We might need to clean for a month and still not be done.

00:49Locals here are lined up for relief supplies delivered by truck.

00:52This is just one small part of a destruction.

00:55Vietnam's Environment Ministry estimates losses of US$343 million across five provinces.

01:03Vietnam is no stranger to heavy rain.

01:06But this year has been brutal.

01:08From January to October, natural disasters killed close to 300 people

01:13and left over US$2 billion in damage.

01:16Scientists say climate change is to blame,

01:18and it's something people here, with a long memory of past floods, are really starting to feel.

01:26All these years, the highest water level back in 1993 only reached our ankles.

01:32At that time, it rose to about five centimeters.

01:35But now the water has come in over one meter high.

01:38All the vendors are devastated, not just me.

01:42In this part of Dukluk province, the waters have finally receded.

01:46But the severe weather has left a kind of ruin that's taken the region by surprise,

01:50and that will take time to clean up.

01:51Yuan Duan, John von Trieste, and Brynn Thomas for Taiwan Plus.