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Vietnam Floods Kill 3, Threaten to Submerge Parts of Hanoi

by Associated Press

   HANOI, VIETNAM --

   Seasonal floods have killed three people and threaten to submerge parts
   of Vietnam's capital, officials said Tuesday.

   Two children and a man drowned Monday in Chuong My district, a suburb
   of Hanoi, where water has overflowed one bank of the Bui River and
   engulfed several villages, the officials said.

   On the other side of the river, sandbags have been piled for 10
   kilometers (6 miles) to prevent water in a dike from spilling into the
   inner city of the capital, Hanoi, which has a population of 7.5
   million.

   "It is extremely important to keep the dike safe to protect [central]
   Hanoi,'' Mayor Nguyen Duc Chung said on national VTV.

   In Nam Hai village in Chuong My district, Nguyen Van Bon paddles a
   rubber tube to get into his half-submerged house.

   His furniture, refrigerator, washing machine and bags of rice are all
   elevated above the water.

   Bon's wife and son, together with thousands of older people and
   children from the village, have been evacuated to higher ground. Others
   have taken shelter in the upper floors of neighbors' buildings.

   Bon has stayed behind to guard the house.

   "The flood has stirred up our lives. It is hard. There is no
   electricity, no fresh water,'' Bon said. "Some days, I have to eat dry
   instant noodles because there is no water for cooking.''

   Weather forecasters predict more rain upstream, further swelling the
   Bui River.