The red sand was determined to have come from the Sentosa Mũi Né project on a hill 30m high from Huỳnh Thúc Kháng Street. — VNA/VNS Photo Nguyễn Thanh

BÌNH THUẬN — Sand washed in by heavy rain “flooded” a road in Phan Thiết City on Tuesday morning, burying vehicles and properties.

Prolonged heavy rains through the previous night washed down red sand from a nearby hill on to Huỳnh Thúc Kháng Street in Mũi Né Ward at around 2:30am, half submerging vehicles.

The sand stretched for 350m and up to nearly 1.3m deep, also flooding a restaurant.

The red sand was identified to have come from the Sentosa Mũi Né project on a hill 30m high from Huỳnh Thúc Kháng Street.

Authorities cordoned off the street and diverted traffic.

Motorbikes buried under the sand. — VNA/VNS Photo

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Phan Thiết City officials at the scene of a sand flood in Huỳnh Thúc Kháng Street. A 16-seat van was almost fully buried under the sand. — VNA/VNS Photo

The sand stretched for 350m and up to nearly 1.3m deep, also flooding two restaurants and collapsing a house's wall. ​​Nguyễn Đình Chiểu Street, which Huỳnh Thúc Kháng leads into, saw three cars and several motorbikes and five houses flooded by the sand, which covered 150m of the street.

No casualties have been reported.

Nguyễn Hoàng Tân, Chairman of the Phan Thiết City People’s Committee, and other officials visited the scene later in the morning and ordered a quick cleanup.

Excavators were deployed to clean the streets. — Photo sggp.org.vn

Lê Văn Chơn, Vice Chairman of the municipal People's Committee, said water and sand flowing down the hill broke the dyke meant to hold back the sand.

The city has called on the Bình Thuận Province Management Board of Civil and Industrial Construction Investment Projects to build dykes, and the province to quickly begin construction of sewage system Nos.2 and 3 in Hàm Tiến Ward, he said.

As of 2pm the same day, part of the road's surface was cleared and vehicles can pass by.

Last October a similar sand slide occurred in an urban area in nearby Tiến Thành Ward. — VNS

Sand flooded a restaurant. — VNA/VNS Photo