Record flooding hits Vietnam with 8 killed; Stranded hikers rescued near Everest

Record flooding hits Vietnam with 8 killed; Stranded hikers rescued near Everest
by AFP Staff Writers
Hanoi (AFP) Oct 8, 2025
Record floods submerged streets in several communities in Vietnam on Wednesday, with at least eight people killed this week, the government said.

Tens of thousands were left stuck at home or fleeing floodwaters that reached the tops of cars and rooftops in areas of Thai Nguyen city, about 80 kilometres (50 miles) north of the capital Hanoi.

The environment ministry said eight people were killed in flash floods and landslides in Vietnam's mountainous north since Monday, and five others were missing.

By Wednesday morning, the weather bureau said the level of the Cau river, running across Thai Nguyen city, was more than a metre higher than the previous record level of 28.81 metres (94.5 feet) -- when Typhoon Yagi devastated the country in September last year.

Overnight Tuesday and Wednesday morning, social media users posted pleas for help as their relatives and friends were left stranded with no electricity and few provisions in the provinces of Thai Nguyen, Cao Bang and Lang Son.

"Our ground floor (in Thai Nguyen province) was totally flooded. My parents and five kids were stuck, with not enough foood and water. No communication since late Tuesday. They need urgent help," Thoan Vu posted online alongside hundreds of similar pleas.

The floods followed heavy rain from Typhoon Matmo, which weakened on Monday while approaching Vietnam but hit the north hard.

Matmo landed only a week after Typhoon Bualoi triggered widespread flooding, killing at least 56 people and causing economic losses estimated at more than $710 million.

"I have never witnessed such a terrible flood since I was born 60 years ago," Nguyen Van Nguyen told AFP from his three-storey house in Thai Nguyen province.

"There has never been flooding here in my street but now my ground floor is all submerged."

The military said it used two helicopters to drop four tonnes of water, instant noodles, dry cake, milk and lifejackets to people in flooded parts of Lang Son province bordering China.

Human-driven climate change is turbocharging extreme weather events like typhoons, making them ever more deadly and destructive.

Romania to close schools as heavy rainfall forecast in south
Bucharest (AFP) Oct 7, 2025 - Romanian authorities announced Tuesday that hundreds of schools and educational facilities in the south would remain closed on Wednesday as the region braced for a night of heavy rainfall.

The national weather agency has issued red alerts for the capital city Bucharest and five other counties in the south and southeast.

"Rainfall may reach 80-100 litres per square metre, with isolated areas receiving 120-140 litres per square metre," the environment ministry said in a statement.

The ministry also advised people against traveling.

In some lower-lying areas, authorities were preparing sandbags in a bid to counter expected flooding.

"Our priority is to reassure Bucharest residents that they are not in danger, to ensure that the city does not come to a standstill and that there is no rush to pick up children from school and bring them home," the city's interim mayor, Stelian Bujduveanu, told reporters.

Five counties outside the capital adopted similar measures.

Last week, four people died in neighbouring Bulgaria following heavy rainfall that hit the country's Black Sea coast.

Severe flooding affected Romania over the summer, killing three people in the northeast.

President Nicusor Dan said at the time that the "dramatic events" proved the need for "sustainable investment in prevention and protection against climate risks".

Remaining stranded hikers rescued near Everest
Beijing (AFP) Oct 8, 2025 - Nearly 1,000 hikers and support personnel have returned to safety after heavy snowfall stranded them over the weekend on the Tibetan Plateau near Mount Everest, Chinese state media reported.

Tourism in the vast, high-altitude area in China's western edge has increased in recent years, and outdoor enthusiasts flocked to its famous trekking spots for this year's eight-day national holiday that concludes Wednesday.

But an intense blizzard over the weekend buried camps and complicated travel, sparking a large-scale rescue operation involving firefighters, horses, yaks and drones.

In total, "580 hikers and more than 300 personnel, including local guides and yak herders, have arrived safely" in a nearby township, state news agency Xinhua reported Tuesday evening.

"Local staff are organising their return journeys in an orderly manner," the report said, adding that "about a dozen" additional hikers had been brought by rescue teams to a meeting point with supplies.

Their return to safety brings an end to rescue efforts in the mountainous Chinese region, though the unexpected extreme conditions have wrought further damage in nearby areas.

In the mountains of neighbouring Qinghai province, one hiker died from hypothermia and altitude sickness, state media reported Monday.

Over the border in Nepal and India, landslides and floods triggered by heavy downpours killed more than 70 people, officials said Monday, as rescue workers struggled to reach cut-off communities in remote mountainous terrain.