Days of relentless rain have unleashed deadly flooding and landslides across Vietnam, leaving at least 90 people dead and 12 still unaccounted for, as rescue workers struggle to reach isolated communities and overwhelmed districts.
The Vietnamese government said more than 186,000 homes have been damaged nationwide, with entire villages inundated and more than three million livestock swept away. Early estimates place the economic toll in the hundreds of millions of pounds, marking one of the costliest weather disasters the country has faced in recent years.
The hardest hit region has been the mountainous province of Dak Lak, which alone has recorded more than 60 deaths since November 16, according to AFP. Roads there have vanished under brown torrents of water, hillsides have crumbled, and families have been left to sift through mud where their homes once stood.
“Our neighbourhood was completely destroyed. Nothing was left,” said Mach Van Si, a Dak Lak farmer. “Everything was covered in mud.”
The floods follow weeks of punishing weather, including two recent typhoons—Kalmaegi and Bualoi—that barreled into Vietnam in quick succession. By Sunday morning, roughly 258,000 people were without power. Key motorways and rail lines were blocked, cutting off transport links across central and southern regions.
Military and police units have been deployed to the most devastated provinces—Quang Ngai, Gia Lai, Dak Lak, Khanh Hoa, and Lam Dong—where swift-water rescues and emergency evacuations continue. Helicopters and boats are ferrying stranded residents to safety while search teams navigate debris-choked valleys in hopes of finding the missing.
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Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính, attending the G20 summit in South Africa, chaired an emergency meeting remotely on Sunday, ordering all ministries to accelerate relief efforts. Rainfall totals exceeded 1.5 meters in several areas, with some locations reaching 5.2 meters—a level not seen since 1993. Forecasters expect the downpours to ease in the coming days, though fears remain that compromised slopes could trigger further landslides.
Scientists warn that Vietnam’s vulnerability to extreme weather has deepened as human-driven climate change intensifies storms, raises sea levels, and disrupts long-established seasonal patterns. With the country now facing stronger and more frequent typhoons, officials say the challenge is no longer just recovery—but preparing for a future where such disasters are expected to return with unsettling regularity.