HÀ NỘI – The season’s fourth storm is expected to make landfall in the coastal areas of the central Thừa Thiên-Huế and Bình Định provinces at around 4am this morning, local media reported.

The strongest wind force near the storm centre was of grade 8 (60-75km/h) and frequent gusts approaching grade 9-11.

The storm is expected to directly hit localities from Đà Nẵng City to Quảng Ngãi Province, said Director of the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting, Hoàng Xuân Cường.

“Đà Nẵng and Quảng Ngãi will experience the hardestt winds,” he added.

“In addition, due to the influence of the northeastern monsoon and circulation of the storm, provinces from Thừa Thiên-Huế to Nghệ An will suffer from whirlwinds and lightning.”

By 8pm last night, the storm centre was 110km to the East of the Quảng Nam and Bình Định coasts, with similar forces of strong wind and gusts.

From last night until tomorrow, the southern area of the East Sea (including the Trường Sa (Spartly) Archipelago sea area, Bình Thuận and Cà Mau sea areas will witness continuous thundershowers and gale force winds. Waves are expected to rise to 2-3m.

Due to the tropical low-pressure system, torrential rains of 50-100mm hit provinces from Đà Nẵng to Phú Yên yesterday morning. Some areas even expect additional, higher rainfall levels from 170mm to 230mm.

The provinces from Đà Nẵng to Bình Định and the northern central highlands are being hit by heavy rains from last night, with rainfall from 50-200mm. Heavy rains also caused floods in rivers in the central and northern central highlands regions, which are likely to be followed by flash floods and landslides.

At the National Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control, the Head of the Central Steering Committee on Natural Disaster, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyễn Xuân Cường requested relevant localities, ministries and sectors to attempt to protect the loss of human beings from the storm.

At a meeting yesterday, he called for competent bodies to continue instructing 452 boats and 3,400 fishermen in dangerous sea areas from Quảng Bình to Khánh Hòa provinces to quickly move out of the area.

He also required localities from Quảng Trị to Bình Định provinces and the central highlands provinces of Gia Lai and Kon Tum to review all prevention schedules in both coastal and mountainous areas, with particular attention to protecting aquaculture farms and harvesting ripe rice crops.

The Chairman of the Quảng Nam’s Hội An Town People’s Committee Nguyễn Văn Dũng told Tuổi trẻ that numerous prevention measures had been taken to cope with storm No 4, such as banning tours and ships and canoes to Cù Lao Chàm Island.

Dũng said yesterday, Hội An safely docked 800 boats and vessels and checked all in-progress construction projects, particularly dyke embankments and old houses.

According to Dũng, heavy rains and strong winds caused various streets in Hội An’s old town to be inundated.

By late afternoon yesterday, Quảng Nam successfully docked 3,800 vessels whereas 102 vessels still operated offshore and another 40 near the shore. The provincial Department of Education and Training also requested local schools to allow students stay at home until storm ends and set up a hotline for information dissemination.

Bình Định Province successfully docked nearly 2,340 vessels with over 13,290 fishermen out of the total 6,304 vessels with 42,966 labourers. The rest were informed of the storm.

Bình Định and Thừa Thiên-Huế provinces also assigned staff to stay on guard around the clock to respond to any occurrences. — VNS