HANOI, Aug. 4 (Xinhua) -- Flash floods in Vietnam's three northern mountainous provinces in the last three days have killed nine local people and left 24 others missing, Vietnam's Central Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control told Xinhua on Friday.

The floods also injured 12 local people, swept away nearly 200 houses, and damaged 144 irrigation works, many national road sections and hundreds of hectares of crops, causing property losses of 538.2 billion Vietnamese dong (23.8 million U.S. dollars).

Regarding the nine deaths, six were from Son La province, two from Yen Bai and one from Lai Chau. Concerning the 24 people listed as missing as of Friday noon, 12 are from Yen Bai, 10 from Son La and two from Lai Chau.

Natural disasters, mainly storms and floods, killed 75 people in Vietnam, and injured 77 others in the first seven months of this year, according to the country's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.