HANOI, Sept. 29 (Xinhuanet) -- Flash floods sparked by the typhoonDamrey, which swept over Vietnam's coastal localities on Tuesday, have killed and left missing at least 54 people in northern Vietnam.

    As of Wednesday night, the floods, which occurred Tuesday night,killed at least 38 people and left four others missing in Yen Bai province, and claimed three lives in Phu Tho province, two in Hoa Binh province and one in Lao Cai province, local newspaper Young reported Thursday.

    The report added that six bodies of drowned people whose living areas have not been identified were also found in Phu Tho. The floods also damaged nearly 2,000 houses, more than 6,000 hectares of rice, many bridges, and telephone and electricity network in the localities.

    Earlier, the strongest typhoon hitting Vietnam over the past nine years killed at least five local people and injured 13 others.It also destroyed some 100,000 hectares of rice and other subsidiary crops and many sea dyke segments, ripped up several hundreds of trees, and damaged more than 13,000 houses, schools and offices in coastal areas from northern Quang Ninh province to central Thua Thien Hue province.

    Last year, natural disasters in the country killed 232 people and left 38 missing, injured 187 others, destroyed 4,200 houses and 3,000 hectares of rice, and killed over 2,000 cattle and 170,000 poultry, causing a property loss of over 900 billion Vietnamese dong (some 57 million US dollars). Enditem