A rescue team evacuates residents from a flooded area in the central province of Thừa Thiên-Huế. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — Typhoon Nangka, the seventh to form in the East Sea this year, has been forecast to make landfall in northern and north-central regions on Wednesday afternoon, bringing torrential rain and high risk of flooding and severe landslides.

“The typhoon is likely to move towards the Gulf of Tonkin Gulf early on Wednesday morning and affect mainland areas to the south of the northern delta and north-central region,” said Mai Văn Khiêm, director of the National Hydro-meteorological Forecasting Centre.

At 1pm on Tuesday, the eye of the typhoon was right over the Hainan Island (China) with winds gusting up to 75-100km per hour.

Over the next 24 hours, the storm will continue to move west-northwest at a speed of 20km per hour.

Heavy rains of more than 400mm are predicted from Wednesday to Friday in southern Sơn La Province, the northern province of Hòa Bình, the central provinces of Thanh Hóa and Nghệ An, and the northern delta.

River water levels in the northern region are forecast to rise to alarming levels.

All northern and central localities were at high risk of flooding and landslides as many areas had already been flooded and eroded due to heavy rains over the past few days, said Vũ Xuân Thành, deputy chief of office at the National Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control.

Thành asked fishermen offshore to dock their boats and residents to move their fishing cages to safer areas.

Low lying areas were also ordered to evacuate, and he asked localities to review hydropower plants under construction and evacuate other risky areas.

As of Monday, downpours and flooding in central provinces over the past few days had killed 28 people and damaged 415 houses. More than 131,000 houses have been flooded.

Key routes in Quảng Trị, Thừa Thiên-Huế and Quảng Bình are still congested due to landslides.

About 18.5 tonnes of food has been sent to residents in flood-hit areas in the central region.

According to the transport ministry, as of Tuesday morning, there remained five flooding areas in Quảng Trị and Thừa Thiên-Huế. Railway routes running through those areas had also been disrupted due to flooding.

Weather forecast experts said that a low pressure area is active east of the Philippines and set to move into Việt Nam's East Sea on Thursday and would likely become stronger. — VNS