HANOI, Oct. 25 (Xinhuanet) -- Floods caused by torrential rain in Vietnam's central region had killed 5 local people as of Monday afternoon, a local official told Xinhua Tuesday.

    The victims were from the provinces of Binh Dinh, Phu Yen and Quang Ngai, said Nguyen Sy Nuoi, deputy head of the Flood and Storm Control Bureau in charge of the central region under the Central Flood and Storm Control Committee.

    The floods, which started last weekend, also inundated over 300 houses and many hectares of rice and subsidiary crops, he added.

    Last year, natural disasters 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 in Vietnam, causing a property loss of over 900 billion Vietnamesedong (some 57 million US dollars), according to the committee. Enditem