Residents in south central Khánh Hòa Province strengthen their roofs to prepare for storm Matmo. — VNA/VNS Photo Nguyễn Dũng

HÀ NỘI — Matmo, the fifth storm this year, is moving west quickly and is forecast to reach the coastal areas of central Quảng Ngãi to Khánh Hòa provinces this evening, according to the latest report from the National Hydro-meteorological Forecast Centre.

The storm was located 260km east of the mainland of central provinces from Bình Định to Khánh Hòa at 7am on Wednesday. The strongest winds near the eye of the storm were 75-90km per hour.

It is expected to keep moving west at a speed of 15-20km per hour in the next 12 hours and make landfall in localities from Quảng Ngãi to Khánh Hòa at around 7pm on Wednesday.

It is forecast to weaken into a tropical depression and move toward the east of Cambodia.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyễn Hoàng Hiệp has urged all localities and relevant ministries and agencies, particularly those in affected areas, to proactively prepare for the storm.

The storm would directly hit central and Central Highlands regions so localities needed to guide vessels to safe shelters and keep in touch with the mainland, regularly update them with the developments of the storm, while calling ships operating at sea back to land, he said at an urgent meeting held on Wednesday morning.

He stressed the need to ban boats from going to sea to ensure safety for both people and their property, including tourist vessels.

Mountainous areas need to get prepared for possible flash floods and landslides and proactively evacuate residents from high risks areas, he said.

He also asked localities, Việt Nam Electricity and the Directorate of Water Resources to pay special attention to the safety of dykes while keeping a close watch on reservoirs and hydropower plants.

Mai Văn Khiêm, director of the National Hydro-meteorological Forecast Centre, said the storm with high tides would cause severe flooding and landslides.

As of 6am of Wednesday, safety guidelines have been provided to over 56,700 vessels with over 278,000 fishermen onboard.

Two fishing ships in distress offshore, including BĐ 98413 TS with six fishermen on board and BĐ 96389 TS with eight fishermen, were saved on Wednesday morning and reached storm shelters.

Many localities have taken urgent measures to prepare for the storm.

Authorities of Khánh Hòa Province which is forecast to be directly hit by the storm, has removed 15,000 residents living in high risk areas to safer places.

Phú Yên and Quảng Ngãi provinces allowed students to be off from schools on Wednesday and Thursday as part of measures to prepare for the storm. — VNS