Southeast Asia Floods Kill More Than 100 People, Damage Rice, Coffee Crops

Cyclones and higher-than-normal monsoon rains have deluged parts of Southeast Asia this month, killing more than 100 people and affecting millions in key rice- producing regions.

The death toll from floods in central Vietnam rose to at least 76, the Central Committee for Flood and Storm Control said in a statement today. Rice and other crops were damaged as water levels in rivers started to fall.

Thailand’s worst flooding in five decades has spread to a third of the country, leaving 17 dead and one person missing over the past two weeks as the monsoon season nears its end, the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation said today. At least 1.3 million Thais have been affected and sections of 17 major roads have been closed.

"As long as no more cyclones come this way, we might be safe for the rest of the season," said Stefan Kuhne-Hellmessen, Bangkok-based program coordinator for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, which has given food and water purification kits to affected people.

Wet weather in Asia is hurting the harvesting of rice and coffee beans as governments seek to bring relief to those displaced by rising waters. The flooding adds to storms earlier this year in Pakistan and the Philippines that cut supplies.

Thailand, the world’s biggest rice exporter, may cut production from the nation’s main crop by as much as 20 percent, likely extending a rally in prices, Thai Rice Mills Association said two days ago. Flooding damaged 1.7 million rai (0.7 million acres) of farmland, including 1.3 million rai of rice, according to Farm Minister Theera Wongsamut.

Coffee Production Suffers

Robusta coffee gained as the government of Vietnam, the world’s biggest producer of the variety, worked to ease the fallout in the central region where production has suffered. Robusta, used in instant coffee, is harvested mostly in Asia and parts of Africa.

In Cambodia, eight people have died in floods that caused an estimated $70 million in damage and destroyed rice crops, Xinhua reported, citing local reports. Myanmar authorities, who earlier evacuated 11,000 people to relief camps as high waters damaged roads and railways, is bracing for Tropical Cyclone Giri.

Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva warned that water from the nation’s north will reach Bangkok within the next week, coinciding with an expected rise in sea levels. The capital is prone to seasonal flooding because much of the city of more than 6 million people sits less than 2 meters above sea level.

A La Nina weather event this year has brought heavier-than- usual rainfall to parts of Australia and Asia.

From: Bloomberg. com