HÀ NỘI — Storm Dinamu swept through the northern port city of Hải Phòng to the northern Ninh Bình Province after making landfall in the mainland yesterday, bring in heavy rains to the northern and northern central regions, the National Hydrometeorological Forecast Centre said.

The storm, the third of its kind to hit Viet Nam so far this year, was 20.7 degrees north and 106.4 degrees east at 2pm yesterday in the area of Hải Phòng city and Thái Bình province, hitting localities with maximum wind speeds of 90km per hour, the centre said.

Localities yesterday experienced downpours with rainfall of up to 300mm and 500mm in some areas, while mountainous localities expected flash floods and landslides.

Flash floods and landslides are warned for northern mountainous provinces Lai Châu, Điện Biên, Sơn La, Hòa Bình, Lào Cai, Yên Bái, Phú Thọ, Hà Giang, Tuyên Quang, Thái Nguyên, Bắc Kạn, Cao Bằng, Lạng Sơn and Quảng Ninh while flooding is likely to occur in Thanh Hóa, Nghệ An and Hà Tĩnh.

The storm is forecast to continue causing heavy rains through today in the northern and northern central regions. Total rainfall is predicted to reach 200mm-300mm and 400mm in some areas, according to Trần Quang Tiến, Deputy Director of the National Hydro-meteorological Forecast Centre who met with ministries and agencies yesterday.

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyễn Xuân Cường, who heads the National Steering Committee on Natural Disaster Prevention, asked local authorities and rescue forces to be ready with personnel and equipment to carry out rescues. Localities should also relocate all people in high-risks areas to safer places as soon as possible, he said.

The Ministry of National Defence mobilised more than 183,000 people, 207 vessels and four helicopters to be ready to join storm prevention and control and rescue tasks.

Government leaders yesterday scrutinised preparations for storm Dianmu in some localities.

Deputy Prime Minister Vương Đình Huệ toured Quảng Ninh province to inspect the Hà Nam sea dyke – which is 36.7 km long and crucial to more than 60,000 locals in eight island communes. 

More than 400 officials and soldiers from special operation forces, the navy, and infantry forces were dispatched to reinforce the dyke as well as direct hundreds of fishing boats on the Rút River to shelters. The province should ask the centrally-run ministries and sectors for about VNĐ200 billion (US$9 million) to build the remaining 12km part of the Hà Nam dyke, he said. 

The same day, Deputy PM Vũ Đức Đam inspected preparations for the storm in the north central province of Thanh Hóa. He asked the locality to keep a close watch on the storm and inform locals of preventive measures being taken, particularly moving people from flash flood and landslide prone areas and enforcing a ban on boats and ships from sailing. 

Initial damage

Hà Nội experienced heavy rains of more than 100mm yesterday due to the storm with many streets flooded, including Ngọc Hồi, Phùng Khoang, Giải Phóng. Traffic congestion was reported in many areas.

The Hà Nội Water Sewage and Drainage Company mobilised 2,000 workers to be on duty in flood-prone areas to control the flooding by using pumps to force the flow of water.

Local authorities reported that the storm injured at least three people in the capital, unroofed 11 houses and damaged other properties. About 100 trees fell during the storm.

After hitting the northern province of Quảng Ninh yesterday, the storm destroyed 11 houses and unroofed six others. It caused landslides in nearly 200m of canals and submerged more than 50ha of rice and other crops while thousands of trees fell down.

The local authorities had relocated nearly 2,000 households with more than 4,700 people to safer areas before the storm arrived.

The storm also caused landslides at dyke systems in many areas in northern Hải Dương province.

In the northern mountainous province of Lào Cai, heavy rains and floods from Thursday killed a 48-year-old man in Sốp Cộp district. The province also reported many areas were blocked to traffic for hours due to landslides.

The national carrier Vietnam Airlines yesterday cancelled a series of domestic flights on routes to northern and northern central regions due to the storm.

Storm weakens into tropical low pressure

The meteorological centre said after hitting the mainland, the storm was expected to keep moving west at a speed of 15km to 20km per hour and then weaken into a tropical low pressure area in the next 12 to 24 hours.

By 1am today, Dianmu will abate into a tropical depression at 21.1 degrees north latitude and 104.3 degrees east longitude, in northwestern provinces. Wind speeds of the depression will be about 40-50km per hour. 

In the following 12-24 hours, the depression will move westwards at 15-20km per hour and ease into a low pressure area when it reaches the north of neighbouring Laos. — VNS