Highest-ever flooding hits Laos, leaves 4 dead

At least four people have died in Laos as a result of flooding caused by record high water levels in the Mekong River, a government spokesman said.

Flooding has also affected parts of Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand where heavy rains and the river’s overflow inundated villages and farmland.

Lao foreign ministry spokesman Yong Chanthalansy said Friday that the four died in the capital province of Vientiane after being injured in landslides triggered by the flooding. The state news agency KPL said one of the dead was a child.

Speaking by phone from Vientiane, Yong said that there were reports that the flooding was receding Friday after water levels in the Mekong had reached 44.8 feet (13.68 metres), beating the previous recorded high of 40.61 feet (12.38 metres) in 1966.

Work was supposed to be completed Friday on construction of an 8-foot- (2.5-metre-) high wall of sandbags to protect central Vientiane from the flooding, the Web site of the Vientiane Times newspaper reported. The wall was ordered built when it had been feared that the water level would go even higher.

The flooding also cut electricity in some parts of the old royal capital of Luang Prabang, a popular tourist destination, the Web site reported. It added that the main road between Vientiane and Luang Prabang had been cut off by a landslide.

Thailand’s national news agency said areas of three northeastern provinces bordering the Mekong River and Laos were badly affected, with flooding causing damage to dikes and thousands of acres of farmland. The northern province of Chiang Rai was also hit.

In Nong Khai province, more than 1,000 houses were flooded, with some villagers evacuating. Two hospitals were hit and patients and medical supplies were moved to higher ground, the Thai News Agency said.

Some 128,000 people in Nakhon Phanom province were also affected, the agency said.