Deputy Prime Minister Lê Văn Thành at the conference on storm preparations. — VNA/VNS Vũ Sinh

HÀ NỘI — Experts discussed measures to cope with current bad weather during a conference on Sunday as heavy rain battered the northeast and another storm was forecast to enter the East Sea.

The conference was chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Lê Văn Thành, head of the National Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control.

Typhoon Lionrock, the seventh this year, has not dissipated and caused heavy rain in the northeast region. Meanwhile typhoon Kompasu, the eighth, is east of the Philippines, moving very quickly and will enter the East Sea, according to the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting.

Speaking at the conference, Trần Quang Hoài from the Việt Nam Disaster Management Authority, said to cope with Lionrock, which has caused heavy rain and flooding in many localities, provinces had strengthened houses, seafood farms and moved residents to safety.

By Sunday morning, provinces from Quảng Ninh to Khánh Hòa have given updates to more than 61,400 fishing vessel with more than 278,600 crew aboard.

As for agricultural production, by Sunday, provinces in the Hồng (Red) River Delta and coastal provinces from Quảng Ninh to Hà Tĩnh Province harvested 443,000 out of 624,422ha of rice. The remaining 54,000ha is being quickly harvested.

A 65-year-old woman was reportedly swept away by the floodwater in Quảng Nam Province. As much as 25ha of farms in the province were submerged.

One fishing vessel with nine workers sank at 5am on Saturday 300m off the Trà Lý River in Thái Bình Province. One person died and eight others managed to swim to safety.

Hydropower reservoirs in the north, central and Central Highlands regions reached up to 90 per cent of their designed capacity.

Sea dikes and estuary systems from Quảng Ninh to Bình Thuận Province stretch a total length of 1,657km. At present, the system has 33 weak points whereas seven others are under construction.

Some places requiring attention include the Hải Hậu sea dike in Nam Định Province, the Bình Minh 4 sea dike in Ninh Bình Province, the Nga Sơn sea dike in Thanh Hóa Province and the Thái estuary dike in Nghệ An Province.

Concluding the conference, Deputy PM Thành praised provinces and cities for their preparations to cope with typhoon No 7.

Deputy PM Thành asked organisations to prepare for typhoon No 8 – Kompasu, which is forecast to bring stronger winds.

It is forecast that by 10am on Tuesday, Kompasu will be about 800km off the Hoàng Sa (Paracel) Archipelago heading in the east-northeastern direction with wind speeds of 90-120kph.

Due to the typhoon, waves could reach 4-6m in height and the sea will be very rough. Warning level in the north part of the East Sea is at the third level (five is the highest).

Then the typhoon will move west, weakening with wind speeds of 20-25kph. — VNS