Men examine structures in their production workshop in the central province of Quảng Nam before storm. — VNA/VNS Photo Đoàn Hữu Trung

HÀ NỘI — Storm Goni, the tenth to enter Việt Nam this year, could cause torrential rains, whirlwinds and gusts in central coastal areas and further inland, posing a high risk for vessels and coastal aquaculture farms.

Vice director of the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting Hoàng Phúc Lâm said that Quảng Nam, Quảng Ngãi and Bình Định provinces would see heavy downpour from Wednesday night to Friday with an average rainfall of 250-350mm.

Thừa Thiên-Huế, Đà Nẵng, Kon Tum, Gia Lai and Phú Yên provinces would experience rainfall of 100-200mm, while provinces from Ha Tinh to Quang Tri will see average rainfall of 100-200mm from Thursday to Saturday.

The storm's eye was projected to be about 330km offshore of central provinces from Quảng Ngãi to Khánh Hòa by 7pm on Wednesday, with a wind speed of up to 60-90 km per hour.

Goni is expected to continue moving west-southwest at 10-15km per hour and turn into a tropical low-pressure system.

By 4am on Friday, the centre of the tropical low-pressure system will be in the mainland of provinces from Quảng Ngãi to Khánh Hòa with wind speeds of up to 50km per hour.

At a meeting of the Central Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control on Wednesday, vice chief secretariat of the committee office Nguyễn Đức Quang asked ministries, agencies and localities to closely follow the development of the storm.

Quang asked for further attention to flood/landslide-hit areas with ongoing search and rescue activities or areas at high risk of flash floods or landslides.

Authorities were asked to inform vessels to leave dangerous areas and move to shelter.

They were also asked to help people reinforce or move aquaculture raising facilities as well as have evacuation plans to ensure safety for residents and tourists in coastal areas and islands, especially those in Phú Yên and Khánh Hòa provinces or those living along rivers and in lower areas.

According to the High Command of Border Guards, by Wednesday morning, border guards informed more than 232,100 people about the storm and instructed them to leave dangerous areas.

The Ministry of Transport directed port authorities to keep in contact with vessels and instruct them to move to safety.

The Ministry of National Defence made more than 64,500 staff and 1,718 vehicles available to respond to the storm if needed.

Nearly 4,500 staff and 91 equipment were mobilised for the search activities at Rào Trăng 3 Hydropower Plant in Thừa Thiên-Huế as well as to carry more than 7 tonnes of food and 250 litres of petroleum to people in Trà Leng Commune and Phước Lộc Commune in Quảng Nam Province. They were all hard hit by recent severe floods and landslides after Storm Molave battered central provinces.

Meanwhile, authorities are still searching for 23 people who went missing at sea after two vessels sank on October 29 in waters off the central province of Bình Định.

According to a Government report introduced at the National Assembly on Monday, since late September, five storms have hit central Việt Nam, causing historical torrential rains and massive floods. 

The storms left 235 people dead or missing and an estimated economic loss of VNĐ17 trillion (US$733.4 million).

The natural disasters damaged hundreds of thousands of homes, while on October 12 and October 19, more than 317,000 houses in provinces from Nghệ An to Quảng Nam were submerged. Many of them were flooded for 15 straight days. — VNS