Several people have died following landslides in northern Vietnam caused by heavy rainfall and flash floods over the weekend, media reported. A local government official was quoted saying that an explosion-like noise was first heard on May 19 from the top of a mountain in rural Ba Bể district in Bắc Kạn, a province north of Hanoi, before “soil, rock and water poured down from the mountain.” At least four people were killed in Ba Bể while one person was still missing and large areas of farmlands were damaged. The northern region of Vietnam has experienced thunderstorms and heavy rainfall in the past couple of days due to a combination of low-pressure areas and southeast winds, VnExpress, an online Vietnamese publication, reported. Even more rain is expected in the northern region this week, with forecasters predicting 100-350 millimeters (4-14 inches) of rainfall in some areas. “This year, due to a combination of neutral El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) conditions and the continued impact of climate change, intense localized downpours with rainfall rates exceeding 100 mm per hour are expected to occur frequently during the rainy season,” the department of meteorology and hydrology was quoted as saying in Tuổi Trẻ, a Vietnamese publication. Like other countries in the region, Vietnam is exposed to tropical cyclones, which cause flash floods and landslides. Although such storms typically come between June and November each year, Agence France-Presse cited experts saying that climate change is causing more intense weather patterns. In 2024, the number of people…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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