HOI AN (Reuters) -The death toll from the heavy floods in central Vietnam has risen to 13, the government said on Friday, as residents of the flooded Hoi An started clean-up operations as the water levels began to subside.
Floods triggered by record levels of rainfall have inundated a large swath of central Vietnam over the past days, with the UNESCO-listed former imperial capital Hue and Hoi An the worst hit.
Photos circulating on state media showed that much of the two locations remained under flood water, with some houses submerged up to their roofs.
Vietnam is prone to often deadly storms and flooding that cause widespread property damage, especially during the storm season from June until October.
In Hoi An, a well-preserved ancient town that was once a bustling Southeast Asian trading port from the 15th to 19th centuries, floodwater began to recede Friday.
"I have witnessed floods many times, and this is the worst I've ever seen," Hoi An resident Tran Van Tien, 60, told Reuters.
Most of the tourists have cancelled their hotel bookings for Hoi An, which last year received more than 4.4 million visitors, including nearly 3.6 million foreign tourists.
"Floodwater rose too quickly, causing significant property damage," said Nguyen Thi Thuy, a hotel manager, whose hotel has been closed since Monday.
The floods have also left 11 people missing, inundated more than 116,000 houses and 5,000 hectares of crops, and damaged roads and railways, cutting off traffic and power in several areas, the government's disaster agency said in a report.
Heavy rain is forecast to continue in central Vietnam, with daily rainfall exceeding 500 millimetres in some areas from early Friday until late Saturday, according to the report.
"I hope that floods won't happen again so that we can reopen our hotel... We all rely on tourism here," Thuy said.
(Reporting by Thinh Nguyen in Hoi An and Khanh Vu in Hanoi; Editing by David Stanway)
