Heavy monsoon rains in late August left more than 100 villages flooded across Oudomxay, Luang Namtha, and Luang Prabang provinces in the north of Laos, damaging homes, farmland, and infrastructure.
Northern Provinces
In Luang Namtha, heavy rainfall between 28 and 30 August triggered severe flash floods across 54 villages, including the Boten Daen Ngam Special Economic Zone near the border checkpoint with China.
The floods hit more than 2,400 households in Luang Namtha district alone, and officials still cannot fully value the losses.
Around the same time, Oudomxay suffered its third and most severe flood wave of the month. Continuous torrential rain on 29 to 30 August triggered flash floods across Namor, Xay, and La districts, hitting 81 villages, though officials have not yet valued the losses.
Earlier flooding hit Namor and Nga districts in early August, followed by flash floods in Beng District on 19 August that damaged three villages. The floods affected thousands of people across several districts and caused an estimated LAK 48.47 billion (USD 2.1 million) in damage.
Meanwhile, a flash flood struck Nambak district’s area in Luang Prabang Province on 30 August.
Updated assessments found that the floods affected eight villages and more than 1,000 people, damaging rice paddies, vegetable plots and fruit gardens. Total losses were estimated at around LAK 1.83 billion (USD 81,000).
Southern Wing
Further south, Khammouane suffered the heaviest toll of all.
Two rounds of flooding affected all ten districts of the province between July and August. The first, from 3 to 17 July, hit 121 villages and affected more than 31,000 people, causing an estimated LAK 137 billion (USD 6.1 million) in damage.
Then, from 5 to 18 August, a second phase inundated 298 villages, affecting more than 100,000 people.
Officials have not yet finalized damage estimates for this second phase.
