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| Local residents work hard to reinforce a dyke system in in Thanh Hóa Province as it braces for storm Nakhun. — VNA/VNS Photo Nguyễn Nam |
Viet Nam News
HÀ NỘI — Tropical storm Nakhun suddenly changed course on Sunday and headed for Việt Nam’s central provinces rather than the northern ones.
The National Centre for Hydro-meteorological Forecasting said the storm was predicted to make landfall in the central provinces late Tuesday (October 17).
Due to the storm, heavy rains with rainfall of 150mm are expected to hit the north and north-central provinces between Sunday midnight and Tuesday, the centre said.
Additionally, 1-3m floods were forecast in the rivers of Thao, Lô, and Thái Bình provinces on Monday and Tuesday.
The northern mountainous provinces of Lạng Sơn, Cao Bằng, Bắc Cạn, Thái Nguyên, Hà Giang, Tuyên Quang, Lào Cai and Yên Bái are still on high alert of landslides and flash floods, the centre said.
By 7pm today, the storm would be 140km to the south- southeast of Bạch Long Vỹ Island, with a maximum wind speed of 75km per hour near the eye of the storm.
The storm, the 11th tropical storm in the East Sea this year, was moving southwest at 20 km per hour.
68 dead
Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development cum head of the Central Steering Committee on Natural Disasters Prevention and Control Nguyễn Xuân Cường chaired a meeting Saturday to direct localities and relevant agencies to prepare for the storm. “No one is allowed to underestimate the storm,” Cường said.
Recent floods and torrential rains, triggered by the tropical low-pressure system over the past few days, caused a huge loss of lives and property, with 68 dead and 32 injured, and 34 people missing in the north and central provinces.
Trần Quang Hoài, head of the Việt Nam Disaster Management Authority, said the agency would co-operate with mobile network operators to send warning messages of landslides to people living in high-risk areas.
A representative of the Việt Nam Border Guard Command said at the meeting that the command had directed its units in coastal provinces from Quảng Ninh to Phú Yên to quickly take measures to prepare for the storm.
A report issued yesterday by the Central Steering Committee on Natural Disasters Prevention and Control said over 75,100 offshore vessels were told about the storm’s developments by 6:30 am yesterday.
Additionally, the national committee for hydro-meteorological forecasting yesterday warned a cold spell would bring a temperature drop to northern province between yesterday midnight and Tuesday. Temperatures are expected to drop to about 16-19 degrees Celsius in the northern mountainous provinces and 19-21 Celsius in Hà Nội and Red Delta localities. — VNS
