Drought adds to Vietnam's power woes

Terra Daily via Agence France-Presse: Thunderstorms brought slight relief to parts of northern Vietnam in recent days but not to the Hoa Binh hydropower plant, where water levels hover just above the "dead point" when electricity output is severely restricted. In fast-growing Vietnam, where energy demand outstrips supply, that means further blackouts in a country that draws more than one-third of its power from hydroelectricity.

The Hoa Binh power facility is Vietnam's largest, fed by the Da River flowing from China, where drought has brought falling water levels just as it has throughout Southeast Asia. Vietnam is confronted with its worst water shortage in decades, Bui Duc Long, of the national weather centre, told AFP.

Vietnamese media reports have said the dry spell -- which has pushed temperatures in Hanoi to near 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) -- could be the worst in a century….