HÀ NỘI — Rains up to 250mm are forecast along the coastal central provinces from Thanh Hóa to Quảng Ngãi on Monday (October 9) evening.

This is attributed to the impact of a tropical low-pressure system, moving west-northwest at 25km per hour. It was 410km off the coast of the provinces from Hà Tĩnh to Quảng Trị by 1pm on Monday, the National Centre for Hydro-meteorological Forecasting said.

The system was predicted to gain strength and develop as a tropical storm before making its landfall on provinces between Hà Tĩnh and Quảng Trị early Tuesday morning.

The system would also bring heavy rains to the northern provinces of Hòa Bình, Phú Thọ, Yên Bái and Sơn La with a rainfall of 50-100mm from Monday night, the centre said.

In a related movement, the centre said water level in the rivers of Nghệ An, Hà Tĩnh and Quảng Bình provinces was rising. A flood was forecast in the rivers from Thanh Hóa Province to Quảng Ngãi Province on Monday at midnight.

A small flood was also expected to hit the rivers of Thao, Lô and Thái Bình between Tuesday and Wednesday.

The northern mountainous provinces of Lạng Sơn, Cao Bằng, Bắc Cạn, Thái Nguyên, as well as Hà Giang, Tuyên Quang, Lào Cai, Yên Bái, Sơn La, Hòa Bình and the central provinces from Thanh Hóa to Quảng Ngãi have been put on high alert due to the possibility of landslides and flash floods, the centre said.

Additionally, the urban areas of large cities which are prone to be inundated needed to prepare carefully to prevent consequences of heavy rains, the centre said.

In response to the situation, the National Committee on Natural Disasters Prevention and Control held an urgent meeting on Monday morning to direct the provinces to take measures to prepare for the tropical low-pressure system.

Trần Quang Hoài, chief of the committee’s office, ordered the localities to not underestimate the impacts of the tropical low-pressure system.

Hoài said the most urgent task was to inform to all offshore vessels about the development of the tropical low-pressure system so that they could find a safe anchorage.

The localities’ administrations were told to re-check reservoirs to ensure safety during heavy rains, he added.

By Monday morning, about 50,000 offshore vessels were informed of the tropical low-pressure system. — VNS