Storm No. 6 passes, continue to respond to rain and floods

Authorities of Huong Xuan commune, Ha Tinh province help people cross bridges with rushing water. Photo: DUONG QUANG

North Central: Many places are isolated

The Quang Tri Province Civil Defense and Search and Rescue Command said that the storm circulation caused very heavy rain, strong winds, and river water levels rising above alert level 3, paralyzing many key traffic routes, causing more than 21 deep flooding and local isolation. National Highway 9B, DT571 route, and many spillways in Huong Phung, Huong Hiep, Hieu Giang, Ben Quan... were flooded, leaving hundreds of households isolated. In Huong Hiep Commune alone, Khe Nghi and Tien Hien spillways were flooded 0.7m deep, isolating 190 households in Gia Gia Village; in Huong Phung, the border patrol road was flooded more than 1m deep. Thuong Trach Commune has more than 600 isolated households.

In Cu Bai village (Huong Lap commune), landslides came close to residential areas. Border guards arrived in time, carrying children and helping the elderly to safety. Mr. Ho Long, a local resident, emotionally said: "It was raining heavily and the mountain collapsed. Luckily, the soldiers arrived in time. Otherwise, my family would have been stuck in the flood."

Heavy rain and floods in Quang Tri trapped 5 people working in the Melaleuca forest for nearly 2 days, endangering their lives. After more than 4 hours of effort, the local police force approached and successfully rescued all 5 people, bringing them out safely. Faced with the critical situation, Mr. Tran Phong, Chairman of the People's Committee of Quang Tri province, requested that we absolutely not be subjective, and must synchronously deploy measures to protect the safety of the people. The whole province mobilized 85 teams/325 border guards to stay in the area, 49 teams/180 officers to block at key points, with canoes, boats, and motor vehicles ready to respond.

In Ha Tinh, floods from upstream caused flooding, isolating many areas. Huong Xuan commune organized the evacuation of 21 households with 71 people from areas at risk of landslides. In Phuc Trach commune, the bridge was deeply flooded, isolating Rao Tre village (46 Chut ethnic households with 161 people) and part of village 1. Local authorities set up barriers and stocked food and necessities for the people. National Highway 15 and Ho Chi Minh Road were partially flooded; many areas of Phuc Trach grapefruit and summer-autumn rice were deeply flooded, at risk of serious damage.

In Hue City, heavy rains caused the water level of the Huong River and the Bo River to rise, approaching alarm level 1. The Hue City People's Committee has prepared hundreds of tons of food reserves and requested to ensure fuel supply. Military and police forces have been mobilized to support people in harvesting summer-autumn rice and reinforcing aquaculture ponds. To date, the locality has harvested more than 3,800/25,000 hectares of rice.

Widespread impact, particularly heavy rain

According to Mr. Mai Van Khiem, Director of the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting, the storm's strongest wind reached level 8, gusting to level 10-11. By early afternoon on August 30, the center of storm No. 6 had entered the area from Ha Tinh to Northern Quang Tri. By 4 p.m. the same day, the storm weakened into a tropical depression while moving to Central Laos. Storm No. 6 caused heavy to very heavy rain in many provinces, some places with rainfall exceeding 300mm. At sea and on islands, many meteorological stations recorded strong winds.

Floodwaters from the Hoang Long River have submerged hundreds of houses in Kenh Ga village (Gia Vien commune, Ninh Binh province) over the past 4-5 days.

Speaking to the press on August 30, Mr. Nguyen Van Huong, Head of the Weather Forecast Department (National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting), said that because the storm moved quickly (about 25km/hour), the rain did not last long, and heavy rain only lasted until the end of August 31. From September 1, rain across the country tended to decrease.

Regarding the weather during the 80th anniversary of the August Revolution and National Day on September 2, Mr. Nguyen Van Huong said that on the morning of September 2, Hanoi may have light showers, and by noon and afternoon the sky will clear up, with a possibility of sunshine. The Central region will also start to be sunny again from noon and afternoon. Particularly in the South and Central Highlands, it will be sunny during the day, and showers and thunderstorms may appear in the evening. "In general, the weather across the country on National Day is basically favorable for outdoor activities," Mr. Nguyen Van Huong predicted.

Although the rain will decrease from September 1, the North Central region and the Northern Delta will still be affected by heavy rain from the night of August 30 to the end of August 31. The risk of flooding, inundation, landslides and flash floods is high, especially when this area has just suffered from storm No. 5, many places are still heavily flooded. In the face of this situation, on the afternoon of August 31, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Environment Nguyen Hoang Hiep signed an official dispatch to the People's Committees of the three provinces of Thanh Hoa, Nghe An and Ha Tinh, requesting the immediate implementation of measures to ensure the safety of the dike system in the context of floods on rivers that could reach alert level II to alert level III.

According to the direction, localities need to urgently review and implement dike protection plans, prioritize protecting key vulnerable points, immediately handle locations where incidents have occurred but have not been completely resolved, and at the same time inspect unfinished dike projects. Patrol and guard forces must be tightly organized and strictly implement regulations to promptly detect and handle unusual situations.

PHUC VAN - MINH PHONG - DUONG QUANG - VAN THANG - LAM NGUYEN

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/bao-so-6-di-qua-tiep-tuc-ung-pho-mua-lu-lut-post811022.html