Hanoi  - A flash flood triggered by heavy rains has killed four people, including two small children, in Vietnam's central highlands, a police officer said Monday.

The flash flood occurred early Sunday in Dac Ngo commune in Dak Nong province, 250 kilometers north of Ho Chi Minh City, and lasted for about two hours, according to Dinh Dang Thoan, a commune police official.

The flood washed away two men and two young girls, seven and two years old. The two men were workers at a hydropower plant in the commune.

"They were sleeping in makeshift tents near a river when the flash flood happened, washing them and their tents away," Thoan said. "We have found the bodies of three of them, but not yet the body of the seven-year-old girl."

Floods and storms kill hundreds of people in Vietnam every year. More than 300 people were killed by floods and storms in Vietnam last year, including 89 people killed by Typhoon Lekima and the floods it triggered.

Experts from the National Hydrometeorology Forecast Centre have forecast that Vietnam would face more storms and floods this year, including strong and dangerous ones, due to the La Nina phenomenon.

Vietnam was hit by this year's first storm in mid April, but no one was reportedly killed in the storm. (dpa)