HUE (Vietnam) — Thousands of people in Vietnam were evacuated from their homes after record rainfall of more than one metre in 24 hours submerged a central city, the environment ministry said today.

Pedestrians wearing rain ponchos waded through knee-high — and for some, waist-high — floodwaters in the city of Hue, with others piloting small motorboats down the flooded streets.

Three measuring stations in Hue recorded rainfall from one metre to 1.7 metres (five feet seven inches) in a 24-hour period from Sunday to Monday, the environment ministry said in a statement.

The previous 24-hour rain record was 0.99 metres, set in Hue in 1999, it said.

Heavy rain has inundated Vietnam’s central coastal region since the weekend, closing schools and flooding the former imperial city of Hue, a Unesco world heritage site.

More than 8,600 people in four central provinces were evacuated to schools and other public buildings since Saturday due to risks from severe flooding and landslides, according to the environment ministry.

“This was the biggest flood I have experienced, with water levels in my house about 40 centimetres higher than that of 1999,” said 56-year-old Hue resident Tran Anh Tuan.

“My ground floor is under about two metres of floodwaters. We had moved all essential furniture upstairs. We have been in the dark over a day as power was cut off,” Tuan told AFP from his three-storey house in central Hue.

Hue authorities warned residents that rain and flooding may last until Friday.

An image published by state media on Monday showed a room in a main hospital in the city flooded with murky water and two patients seated on gurneys.