Vietnam's coastal provinces, home to UNESCO world heritage site Hoi An ancient town, have been pummelled by heavy rain since the weekend, with a record of up to 1.7m (5ft 7ins) falling over 24 hours.

At least 10 people have been killed while eight others are missing, the environment ministry said.

More than 128,000 houses in five central provinces have been inundated, with water three metres deep in some areas.

People waded through waist-deep water in the flooded streets of Hoi An on Thursday and the ground floors of shops were submerged, an AFP journalist said.

Several kilometres of roads have been damaged or blocked by flooding and landslides this week, with more than 5,000 hectares of crops destroyed and over 16,000 cattle dead, the environment ministry added.

Flood levels at a measuring station on the Thu Bon river, which flows through Danang and empties into the sea at Hoi An, "surpassed the historic level in 1964 by four centimetres, reaching 5.62 metres" late Wednesday, the national weather bureau said.

"Normally the flooding lasts only three days and then we can start cleaning up," said Danang resident Le Thi Thi, 58.

"I don't think I ever experienced this prolonged and terribly high flooding in my life," she told AFP.

Forecasters said water levels had started to slowly recede in Danang and Hue city but will remain at "alarming" levels on Thursday.

Scientists say human-driven climate change is making extreme weather events such as storms and floods more deadly and destructive.

Natural disasters, mostly storms, floods and landslides, left 187 people dead or missing in Vietnam in the first nine months of this year.

Total economic losses were estimated at more than $610 million, according to government figures.