Heavy rain that started last Saturday has claimed 24 lives in central Vietnam, said the Department of Natural Disaster Prevention and Control on Monday.

As of Monday, among 24 deaths, central Binh Dinh province reported the biggest figure of 16, followed by central Thua Thien-Hue province with five deaths. Central Khanh Hoa and Phu Yen provinces recorded two and one respectively, said the department's report.

Meanwhile, as many as 16 were injured, while two others remained missing during the downpour and flooding.

Torrents washed away 332 houses, damaged 118 and flooded 6,150 houses while a total of 5,892 households have to evacuate to safer places.

As many as 19,128 hectares of rice, 9,806 hectares of crop, and 3,778 hectares of trees were submerged and damaged, said the report.

At the same time, some 1,380 cattle and 62,346 farm birds were killed and washed away.

The department estimated a total damage of the eight-day rain in central Vietnam stood at 783 billion Vietnamese dong (35.11 million U.S. dollars).

source: Xinhua