HO CHI MINH CITY, May 30 (Xinhua) -- Storms, landslides and hails in Vietnam in the first five months of this year killed 14 people, injured 71 others, and caused property losses of nearly 1, 300 billion Vietnamese dong (57.8 million U.S. dollars), the country's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said Monday.

Meanwhile, the natural disasters, excluding drought and saltwater intrusion, destroyed over 650 houses, damaged 32,500 others, damaged 15,900 hectares of paddy rice, 12,000 hectares of other crops and 1,500 hectares of aquaculture ponds, and killed 17, 000 cattle, 11,500 poultry and nearly 730 tons of fish and prawns.

In the first five months of this year, the prolonged drought and saltwater encroachment in Vietnam's central and southern regions made 288,300 households to suffer shortages of water for domestic use, and severely affected agricultural production.

Specifically, they damaged roughly 250,000 hectares of paddy rice, 19,000 hectares of subsidiary crops, 30,500 hectares of fruit trees, nearly 150,000 hectares of industrial crops and 6,900 hectares of aquaculture ponds, causing losses of some 15,200 billion Vietnamese dong (675.6 million U.S. dollars), said the ministry.

In the first five months of last years, all kinds of natural disasters in Vietnam claimed 10 human lives, injured 16 others, damaged nearly 3,700 houses, 11,000 hectares of paddy rice and 3, 600 hectares of other crops, and caused losses of 364 billion Vietnamese dong (16.2 million U.S. dollars).