HÀ NỘI — Torrential rainfall of up to 250mm has blanketed the northern region since last night, putting localities on high alert for landslides and flash floods.

The capital of Hà Nội also received heavy rainfall this morning.

The National Centre for Hydro-Meteorology Forecasting this morning said heavy rains will mainly hit Quảng Ninh, Hải Phòng and the northern mountainous provinces encompassing Sơn La, Lai Châu, Lào Cai and Hà Giang tonight.

The torrential rain will last until the end of tomorrow, the centre warned.

To prepare for the situation, the National Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control yesterday sent an urgent message to authorised agencies, from the central to the local levels, ordering them to closely monitor the developments following the heavy rain, especially an increase in the water level in streams and rivers.

Following the message, the localities’ administrations were asked to evacuate residents living in areas that could be hit by flash floods and landslides to safer places.

The local administrations were told to mobilise all forces in case of emergencies, the committee said.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment was assigned to constantly monitor the water level of upstream reservoirs of the Hồng-Thái Bình river system in China.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, meanwhile, had to ensure safety of the irrigation reservoirs and the Ministry of Industry and Trade was requested to ensure safety of hydro-power plants’ reservoirs, especially in the Hồng River basin.

Localities could download documents with instructions on how to cope with torrential rain and floods from the committee’s official website phongchongthientai.com.

The media was asked to constantly broadcast weather forecasts to warn and update people with latest information on the situation.

Previously, floods triggered by heavy rains late last week killed two people in northern Thái Nguyên Province and 3 Foreign Trade University students, who were joining volunteer works during their summer in north-eastern Quảng Ninh Province.— VNS