HANOI (Vietnam) - FLOODS and landslides in northern Vietnam have killed at least 30 people over the weekend, television reports said on Sunday.

Bac Kan province was the worst hit, with VTV reporting at least 13 dead.

A total of at least six people died in Cao Bang, Ha Giang and Lai Chau provinces, state media reported.

The national emergency services had earlier given a toll of at least eight dead and three missing, including six killed in a landslide in mountainous Bac Kan province.

Pictures broadcast late Sunday by VTV showed many houses flooded to their roofs.

The television report warned there was a 'high' risk of a sudden rise in flood levels across several districts in the region.

Heavy rains have been reported in northern Vietnam since late Friday, swelling local rivers and streams.

The country is usually ravaged by typhoons, tropical storms and floods between July and November every year.

In 2008, disasters triggered by bad weather claimed at least 550 lives according to the communist government's General Statistics Office. -- AFP