HANOI, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Floods caused by heavy rain in Vietnam's central region over the past three days have killed two people and left one missing, Vietnam's natural disaster prevention agency said on Wednesday.

A 52-year-old man and an 81-year-old woman, both from central Thua Thien Hue province, were drowned in the floods, and a 36-year-old woman from the same province was swept away by a strong current, Vietnam's Central Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control said.

The floods also inundated nearly 8,300 houses in Thua Thien Hue and central Quang Tri province, damaged 10 hectares of crops and caused riverside landslides in Quang Tri, and disrupted operations of North-South trains.

By Wednesday morning, 18 reservoirs of hydroelectric plants and 10 reservoirs of irrigation works in the central region and the central highlands region had released water to cope with high levels of water.

The cold spell is also intensifying in Vietnam's northern region with temperatures of 15-18 Celsius degrees. The temperatures in mountainous areas are even below 9 Celsius degrees.

Natural disasters, mostly flash floods and landslides in Vietnam, have killed or left 245 people missing in the first 10 months of this year, said the country's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.