The death toll from a week of flooding and record rains in central Vietnam rose to 40 on Tuesday, authorities said, as another powerful storm bore down on the battered region.

Vietnam’s central belt has been deluged by torrential rains, turning streets into canals, bursting riverbanks and inundating some of the country’s most-visited historic sites.

Up to 1.7 metres (5 feet 6 inches) fell over one 24-hour period in a downpour, breaking national records.

The fatalities occurred in Hue, Da Nang, Lam Dong, and Quang Tri provinces, according to the environment ministry’s disaster management agency, which said six people remained missing.

The onslaught of extreme weather is set to continue, with Typhoon Kalmaegi forecast to make landfall in the early hours of Friday morning, according to the national weather bureau.

Vietnam is prone to heavy rains between June and September, but scientific evidence has identified a pattern of human-driven climate change making extreme weather more frequent and destructive.

Ten typhoons or tropical storms usually affect Vietnam, directly or offshore, in a given year, but Typhoon Kalmaegi is set to be the 13th of 2025.

The storm is currently lashing the Philippines, where it has killed at least two people and displaced hundreds of thousands.

It could hit Vietnam’s coast with winds of up to 166 kilometres per hour (100 miles per hour) as it approaches on Thursday, the national weather bureau said.

On Tuesday, the region was reeling from the past week’s extreme weather — with some remote areas still isolated by road-blocking landslides.

Nearly 80,000 houses remain flooded, according to the disaster agency, while more than 10,000 hectares (25,000 acres) of crops have been destroyed and more than 68,000 cattle killed.

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The Director General of the National Orientation Agency, Lanre Issa-Onilu, has dismissed claims of a Christian genocide in Nigeria, stating that he was certain the United States had committed “another error in their intelligence gathering.”

The DG made the statement in response to Nigeria’s redesignation as a “Country of Particular Concern” by the United States government, a move that came after US President Donald Trump publicly accused Nigerian authorities of turning a blind eye to the killing of Christians.

In a post on his Truth Social platform over the weekend, Trump alleged that the Nigerian government had failed to protect Christians from persecution, declaring that the United States would “stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria” and might enter the country “guns a-blazing” if the killings continued.

However, Issa-Onilu, speaking during the monthly joint security press briefing held at the NOA headquarters in Abuja on Monday, said the allegations were false and unfair to Nigeria, arguing that even the US was aware that there was no systematic persecution of Christians in the country.

“Let me speak specifically to some of the import of the tweet. One is to say that the Christian genocide in Nigeria, I’m sure even America knows that is not true. This is not the first time that the intelligence of the United States has failed America.

“It failed them in Iraq. It turned out that there were no weapons of mass destruction, and they apologised. It failed them in Libya and many other instances. So I’m sure this is another error in their intelligence gathering,” Issa-Onilu added.

The NOA boss further stated that the recent shake-up among Nigeria’s security chiefs demonstrated that the country was working seriously to strengthen its internal security and address communal and religious violence.

“A country that is not working seriously on the issue of security will not take such drastic steps as the President just took last week, changing the top echelons of the military to ensure that the system is rejigged and empowered to do more,” he said.

Issa-Onilu disclosed that the National Security Adviser and the newly appointed service chiefs were expected to brief the media later on Monday afternoon from the Office of the National Security Adviser, where they would “provide an adequate response to the allegations of genocide.”

The United States first designated Nigeria a Country of Particular Concern in 2020, under the International Religious Freedom Act, citing what it described as the government’s failure to protect religious freedom and prevent attacks against minority groups.

The designation was later lifted in 2021 under President Joe Biden, following diplomatic engagements between both countries.

However, the latest redesignation has reignited debate over Nigeria’s human rights record and the accuracy of US intelligence assessments regarding religious violence in Africa’s most populous nation.

The Federal Government has consistently maintained that it is committed to protecting all citizens regardless of faith, citing recent counterterrorism operations and community peace-building initiatives as evidence of its efforts.

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Edo State Governor, Senator Monday Okpebholo, said his administration will continue to reconstruct and repair damaged federal highways in the state to ease the suffering of the people.

Okpebholo stated this on Sunday when he visited the Ogheghe–Ologbo axis of the Benin–Sapele Road, a section of the highway which has become almost unmotorable after the bypass, drawing widespread concern from motorists and residents.

PUNCH Online had reported that a petrol tanker caught fire on Saturday at the Ogheghe junction on Sapele Road after falling as a result of failed portions on the road.

In a video that circulated on Saturday evening, a man was heard saying that the incident happened at the Ogheghe junction by the bypass.

He noted that the tanker fell and caught fire as residents stayed away from the inferno.

In a statement on Monday by the governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Fred Itua, Okpebholo said that after the major interventions on the federal roads by the state government, he would approach the Federal Government for reimbursement of funds spent.

He said he cannot sit back and allow the daily carnage on major federal highways, which the previous administration refused to repair in the state.

The governor expressed dismay at the deplorable condition of the road.

“This administration will continue to reconstruct and repair damaged federal highways in the state in order to ease the suffering of the people.

“You can see for yourself how terrible this place is. This place looks as if there has never been a government here ever. The PDP government, to me, is going to be blamed for this. On Saturday, a trailer fell and was burnt here.

“A lot of people lost their properties around here as a result of that. So today, I have come to see for myself what actually happened. The road is terribly bad.

“I think the best way to go is the way we are going now; to fix this road by ourselves and later revert to the Federal Government for reimbursement. What we are doing is to keep this place safe for our people to ply. The contractor is working despite today being Sunday,” Okpebholo said.

The governor’s Special Adviser on Project Implementation and Monitoring, Williams Bello, said that the 10.15-kilometre section was recently handed over to the Edo State Government by the Federal Ministry of Works when the Minister of Works visited the state.

“You can see that our governor is being proactive. The contractor, who was already handling 23.2 kilometres of the project, is now extending work to this newly conceded section. In the middle of the road, they are already excavating for the drains.

“This area has unsuitable materials that cannot absorb water. So, a major drainage channel, about 7.5 metres wide, is being constructed to carry stormwater towards the bypass where there will be a discharge point.

“Since we are now in the dry season, the contractor will be able to build up the road profile and lay the stone base,” Bello said.

General Manager of CBC Global Construction Company, who gave his name as Liao, said the firm had made significant progress on the ongoing 23.2-kilometre reconstruction work.

“For now, we have achieved almost 8 kilometres of stone base and 5 kilometres of Continuously Reinforced Concrete Pavement (CRCP). After this bypass, we have about 7 kilometres on the right-hand side to complete.

“The major challenge before now was rainfall. But now that the rains have stopped, we are working on excavating the drainage in between to channel water out. Once that is done, everything will be much easier. I can assure you, and I believe this project could be completed before the next rainy season,” Liao explained.

Since assuming office, the governor has embarked on major road rehabilitation and reconstruction projects.

Apart from the intervention on Benin–Sapele Road, the state government has also done work on the federal road in Edo Central, while the Akoko Edo road in Edo North is also receiving attention.

The first bridge in the state is also nearing completion, while the construction of another bridge has also begun at Adesua Junction on Benin–Sapele Road.

These interventions reflect Okpebholo’s commitment to improving infrastructure and easing movement across the state.

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