Goni storm is moving west southwest, heading to central provinces from Quảng Ngãi to Khánh Hòa. Photo nchmf.gov.vn

HÀ NỘI – Đà Nẵng City and Quảng Nam Province might not be directedly hit by Storm Goni as the storm is expected to make landfall in central provinces from Quảng Ngãi to Khánh Hòa on Thursday, according to the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting. 

Earlier, the centre predicted the storm would hit central provinces from Đà Nẵng to Phú Yên.

At 10am on Tuesday, the storm’s eye was about 380km away from the Hoàng Sa (Paracel) Archipelago, moving west southwest at 10-15km per hour.

The storm is expected to weaken into a tropical low-pressure system before reaching the coast from Quảng Ngãi to Khánh Hòa.

Speaking at a meeting of Central Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control yesterday, director of the weather centre Mai Văn Khiêm said seas off provinces from Thừa Thiên-Huế to Khánh Hòa would see winds of 50-60km per hour, sometimes up to 103-117km per hour early Thursday morning.

Land areas from Thừa Thiên-Huế to Khánh Hòa will see winds of 50-60km per hour on Thursday morning.

From Wednesday afternoon, rain will start in the central region. Heavier rains will come from Thursday morning and continue until the end of Friday in Bình Định, Phú Yên and the north of the Central Highlands with an average rainfall of 100-150mm.

Localities from Thừa Thiên-Huế to Quảng Ngãi will see rainfall ranging from 250mm to 350mm.

Areas from Nghệ An to Quảng Trị will experience rainfall ranging from 150mm to 250mm.

At the meeting, vice chairman of the steering committee Trần Quang Hoài said that Storm Goni could bring torrential rains which posed a high risk of flash floods, landslides and floods.

He called for close co-operation among agencies and localities to take measures to respond to the storm.

The collecting of statistics on damage caused by the previous storm as well as search and rescue activities must be sped up, he said.

According to High Command of Border Guards, by Tuesday morning, border guards had informed nearly 232,200 people with 49,900 vehicles about the storm and instructed them to leave dangerous areas.

As of Tuesday morning, Storm Molave – the ninth to enter the East Sea this year- had killed 36 people while 58 remained missing.

Quảng Nam Province authorities sent more than 7,200 people and 103 vehicles of all kinds for search and rescue activities as 21 people remained missing after floods and landslides happened in the province.

According to the Ministry of Transport, until Tuesday morning, traffic remained blocked in National Highways due to flooding and landslides including five landslides-affected areas on National Highway 49 in Thừa Thiên-Huế, 10 on National Highway 15D in Quảng Trị, two in National Highway 16 in Nghệ An and one in National 9B in Quảng Bình.

Nearly 17,000 houses in Nghệ An and Hà Tĩnh provinces were submerged due to recent severe flooding. VNS