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NEWS

11.12.2007 6:17 AM

Vietnam: First, Another Flood. Then, a Typhoon. Now, Crocodiles

"Floods Overlapping Floods"

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By Dan Shapley

Not even the Book of Revelation anticipated what has hit Vietnam in recent weeks: Flooding that claimed hundreds of lives, then Typhoon Peipah stormed through, killing more than a dozen. And now -- crocodiles that escaped from a farm are terrorizing the flooded streets of Hanoi, according to the Deutsche Presse-Agentur.

Typhoon Peipah had been downgraded to a tropical depression by the time it reached Vietnam, but the water-logged country had already had enough. Hundreds have died in the past few weeks, and the additional rain only re-filled swollen rivers that were subsiding. This is the fourth flood in central Vietnam, according to the Deutsche Presse-Agentur.

The average rainfall from Peipah was nearly a foot, with some areas receiving a mind-boggling 40 additional inches of rain, prompting one official to complain about "floods overlapping floods."

Scientists debate whether tropical cyclones, such as those that have hit Vietnam, will become more frequent or intense as global warming heats up the oceans, but the United Nations has warned that catastrophic flooding is among the extreme weather events that will become more frequent due to climate change.


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