HUE, Vietnam: Thousands of people in Vietnam were evacuated from their homes after record rainfall of more than one meter in 24 hours submerged a central city, the environment ministry said Tuesday.
Three measuring stations in the city of Hue recorded rainfall from one meter to 1.7 meters (five feet seven inches) in a 24-hour period from Sunday to Monday, the ministry said in a statement.
The previous 24-hour rain record was 0.99 meters, set in Hue in 1999, it said.
Heavy rainfall has inundated Vietnam’s central coastal region since the weekend, closing schools and flooding the former imperial city of Hue, a UNESCO world heritage site.
More than 8,600 people in four central provinces were evacuated to schools and other public buildings since Saturday due to risks from severe flooding and landslides, according to the environment ministry.
“This was the biggest flood I have experienced, with water levels in my house about 40 centimeters higher than that of 1999,” said 56-year-old Hue resident Tran Anh Tuan.
“My ground floor is under about two meters of floodwaters. We had moved all essential furniture upstairs. We have been in the dark over a day as power was cut off,” Tuan said from his three-story house in central Hue.
An image published by state media on Monday showed a room in a main hospital in the city flooded with murky water and two patients seated on gurneys.
Tourists in ancient Hoi An town were pictured in state media navigating narrow streets in boats while AFP journalists saw authorities evacuate several people from heavily flooded areas.
“The level of natural disaster risk due to flash floods and landslides is at the highest level,” said Mai Van Khiem, director of the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting, according to a government website.
More rain was forecast for the central provinces into Wednesday, he added.
Some schools were closed in the cities of Hue and Danang beginning Saturday while the railway linking the country’s north and south saw delays due to flooding.
Scientists say human-driven climate change is making extreme weather events like storms and floods more deadly and destructive.
Vietnam’s mountainous north and capital Hanoi were under severe flooding in early October following typhoons Bualoi and Matmo.
Natural disasters, mostly storms, floods and landslides, left 187 people dead or missing in the Southeast Asian nation in the first nine months of this year.
Total economic losses were estimated at more than $610 million, the General Statistics Office said.
Thousands evacuated in Vietnam after record rain triggers floods
https://arab.news/n5ev5
Thousands evacuated in Vietnam after record rain triggers floods
- Heavy rainfall has inundated Vietnam’s central coastal region since the weekend
- More than 8,600 people in four central provinces were evacuated since Saturday
35 million Nigerians ‘risk hunger after global funding collapse’
- The UN can only aim to deliver $516 million to provide lifesaving aid to 2.5 million people this year, down from 3.6 million in 2025, which in turn was about half the previous year’s level
ABUJA: Nearly 35 million Nigerians are at risk of hunger this year, including 3 million children facing severe malnutrition, the UN said, following the collapse of global aid budgets.
Speaking at the launch of the 2026 humanitarian plan in Abuja, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Mohammed Malick Fall said the long-dominant, foreign-led aid model in Nigeria is no longer sustainable and that Nigeria’s needs have grown.
Conditions in the conflict-hit northeast are dire, Fall said, with civilians in Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe states facing rising violence.
BACKGROUND
UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Mohammed Malick Fall said the foreign-led aid model in Nigeria is no longer sustainable and that the country’s needs have grown.
A surge in terror attacks killed more than 4,000 people in the first eight months of 2025, matching the toll for all of 2023, he said.
The UN can only aim to deliver $516 million to provide lifesaving aid to 2.5 million people this year, down from 3.6 million in 2025, which in turn was about half the previous year’s level.
“These are not statistics. These numbers represent lives, futures, and Nigerians,” Fall said.
He also said the UN had no choice but to focus on “the most lifesaving” interventions given the drop in available funding.
Shortfalls last year led the World Food Programme to also warn that millions could go hungry in Nigeria as its resources ran out in December and it was forced to cut support for more than 300,000 children.
Fall said Nigeria was showing growing national ownership of the crisis response in recent months through measures such as local funding for lean-season food support and early-warning action on flooding.
