Hanoi – Floods and landslides triggered by heavy rains in Central Viet Nam have killed 19 people, left eight missing and forced about 80,000 from their homes, disaster officials and state media said on Saturday.

The floods forced 64,500 people from their homes in the province of Quang Ngai, with three dead and three missing, provincial officials said. The military and police are rushing aid and food to villagers cut off by the floodwaters, they said.

Another 16,600 people were evacuated from their homes in the neighboring province of Quang Nam, where one person died and another was missing, disaster official Nguyen Hoai Phuong said.

The flooding was widespread in the province, where some 60 percent to 80 percent of the areas of Hoi An city and two other districts were submerged, Nguyen Hoai Phuong said, adding that the floodwaters were slowly receding.

In the worst-hit province of Binh Dinh, floods killed 12 people and left two missing, officials said.

State media reported that three people were killed and two others missing in three other central provinces. AT/Reinhard Hohler