HANOI • At least 37 people have died and another 40 are missing as floods and landslides ravage north and central Vietnam, destroying homes and leaving rescuers scrambling to find survivors, disaster officials said yesterday.

Tens of thousands were evacuated after heavy rain lashed swathes of the country this week, and forecasters warned of more bad weather to come.

Northern Hoa Binh is the hardest-hit region, with 11 dead and 21 missing, prompting a state of emergency to be declared. "We are mobilising all forces to search for the missing," a disaster official said.

Rescue efforts were hampered as water and mud submerged roads in several areas, including in Hoa Binh, where eight people died in an overnight landslide.

"People should be evacuated from dangerous areas, the safety of people and their belongings must be ensured," Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung said on state-run Vietnam television.

A terrified resident described severe flooding that happened in another part of the province.

Mr Phan Ba Dien told state-controlled VNExpress news site: "The flash flood was terrible. Water poured down from the hill, like a surge 3m high. Traffic has been blocked because of the floods."

A journalist from Vietnam News Agency reporting on the storm was swept away with four other people as an overflowing river demolished a bridge in northern Yen Bai province on Wednesday.

One survived, and the authorities were still looking for the other four yesterday. Images on state media showed people wading through knee-deep waters and tracts of forests that had been wiped out by landslides. Road access was completely cut off in some areas.

"Water was just rushing downstream... It's been a long time since I witnessed that kind of flooding in mountainous areas. I didn't feel safe driving at night and it was scary," said Hanoi resident Nguyen Vu Ngoc.

The disaster has killed 37 people in six provinces, with more than 18,800 houses damaged or destroyed with tens of thousands of hectares of farmland, Vietnam Disaster Management Authority said.

Officials said they were focused on rescuing dozens of missing people yesterday as rain subsided in most areas. Residents were also seen desperately ferrying furniture and other belongings over flooded roads in Son La province, where houses were demolished and electricity poles torn down.

At least 400mm of rain has swamped northern and central Vietnam since Sunday, the disaster agency said.

Vietnam is routinely hit with severe weather, with nearly 170 people killed or missing in disasters so far this year. A massive typhoon slammed into the central coast last month, killing 11 people and devastating entire towns.

Tropical storms in the May-October period are routine occurrences. Last year, nearly 250 were killed or reported missing in weather-related disasters.

Forecasters said a tropical depression east of the Philippines is expected to enter the South China Sea and strengthen in the next few days as it heads towards Vietnam.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE