The floods hit Kỳ Sơn District at around 2am yesterday, with Tà Cạ and Mường Xén Town affected the hardest. VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — A four-year-old child was killed and another remains missing after severe flash flooding lasting for several hours early yesterday morning hit mountainous districts of central province Nghệ An.

The fatality is a four-year-old child from Tà Cạ Commune, among the localities hardest hit by the natural disaster. Another child from the commune is missing. 

The floods hit Kỳ Sơn District at around 2am yesterday, with Tà Cạ and Mường Xén Town being affected the hardest. 

Kỳ Sơn authorities deployed rescue workers to provide assistance to those stranded, focusing on evacuating residents to safety and moving property to avoid damage.

The flooding was too strong in some places so the rescuers encountered difficulties. 

In some residential areas, the water level rose to half the height of a house, forcing some locals to climb up to the rooftops.

Local authorities’ offices were also inundated. 

This is the most severe flash flood so far in the district, baotintuc online newspaper cited residents as saying. 

Kỳ Sơn is a remote mountainous district about 300km from central Nghệ An.

The district has many rivers and streams, along with mountains and hills. There are some hydropower plants under construction and some in operation already, the newspaper reported.

Meanwhile, downpours in neighbouring Hà Tĩnh Province left nearly 2,000 households in Đức Thọ, Nghi Xuân, Hương Sơn, and Hương Khê districts inundated. 

It also caused landslides and damaged roads. VNS