"Thousands of people are facing hunger and need food aid" in the badly-hit provinces of Ha Tinh and Quang Binh, said state-run Vietnam Television, adding that washed out and flooded roads hampered disaster relief efforts.

Soldiers and Red Cross officials brought food and medical supplies to villagers stranded in the region, where almost 400 houses were completely destroyed and 55,000 inundated during the week-long flood crisis.

"The water levels of some rivers in the central region have started to recede slowly," said the national committee on flood and storm control. "Local authorities are helping people to rebuild and repair their houses.

"People have been provided with instant noodles, rice and medicines. Measures have been taken to prevent epidemics and help people resume their lives and production," the committee said in an online report.

The floods, caused by rains brought by an offshore storm, claimed 23 lives in Ha Tinh province, 15 in Quang Binh and 15 in Dak Lak, also killing five in Lam Dong and one person each in the Gia Lai, Dak Nong, Quang Tri and Phu Yen.

The Vietnam Red Cross Society was distributing aid packages that included blankets, mosquito nets, cookers and kettles.

More than 5,700 soldiers and some 1,300 civil defence workers joined the rescue and relief effort with over 400 vehicles, including cars, boats and canoes, to deliver noodles, fresh water and medicines, said state media.

The Communist Party-linked civic organisation the Vietnam Fatherland Front said it would compensate each family that lost one of its members to the floods with two million dong, or about 120 dollars.

Authorities in northern mountainous areas, and thousands of fishing vessels in the South China Sea, meanwhile prepared for more bad weather from tropical storm Pabuk, which was heading towards southern China.

Pabuk hit Taiwan on Wednesday, cutting power and transport links and forcing thousands of foreign fishing boats to take shelter in its harbours.

"There will be heavy rain in northern areas," said the Hanoi-based flood and storm control committee. "Authorities should pay attention to possible flash-floods, landslides and whirlwinds in the Gulf of Tonkin."