Rescuers install zip line to get people stranded in Central Highlands flood

Prolonged heavy rains have inundated Lac Duong District. The flooding swept away the bridge over Da Nghit Stream, trapping 41 people on a farm, including seven children.

Major Doan Manh Toan, deputy head of the province's fire police and rescue service, and dozens of his men put up the rope over the stream using pulleys.

Major Toan and a colleague put on a safety harness on one of the marooned people before rescuers on the other side of the stream pull him in by hand.

"The rain continued to pour for days," the victim said. "On early Thursday morning, floodwaters made the bridge collapse. We were trapped and completely surrounded by water."

A man crosses the stream on the zip line. The rescue team had attempted to use motorboats but the rapid flow of the water precluded it.

After five hours all 41 people were successfully rescued from the farm. Toan said; "The rope was the only solution at the time amid the pouring rain and rising flood level. The situation was very tricky."

In Bao Loc Town in Lam Dong, severe flooding caused by the overflowing of the Dai Lao Stream inundated hundreds of houses and paralyzed traffic, leaving many families stranded.

A woman sits in a bucket on a lifebuoy holding her infant as a rescue team moves them out of a flooded area in Bao Loc.

"The area we live in is on the lower side of a slope and water was pouring down so fast we couldn’t cope," the woman said.

The rescue teams also helped save people’s livestock and things.

In areas where the flow of water was strong, the rescue teams clung to ropes while entering flooded residential areas.

Several places in the Central Highlands, including the popular resort town of Da Lat, were badly flooded as a result of heavy rains or the overflowing of rivers and streams.

There have been reports of at least six casualties as of Friday morning.

The region grows most of Vietnam's coffee, a major export.