Localities urged to prepare for Typhoon Wutip

September 30, 2013 | 09:55

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Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai has asked central coastal localities to take urgent measures in preparation for Typhoon Wutip, which is forecast to reach land in the afternoon of September 30.

Chairing an urgent meeting of the Central Steering Committee for Flood and Storm Prevention and Control in Hanoi on September 29, Deputy PM Hai requested that all localities evacuate residents from high-risk areas before 10 am on September 30.

He also urged measures to minimise the impact of the storm on industrial and socio-cultural facilities and houses as well as called for inspections of reservoirs.

The central localities must continue mobilising forces to help people harvest the summer-autumn rice crop, he said.

The same day, the Prime Minister sent an official dispatch asking the chairmen of provincial and municipal People’s Committees to closely coordinate with relevant ministries and agencies to take drastic and synchronous measures to reduce property damages and loss of human life when the typhoon makes landfall.

According to the National Centre for Hydro-meteorological Forecasting, by 1:00 pm on September 29, Wutip, the tenth tropical storm over the East Sea this year, was centred at 16.7 degrees latitude north and 111.7 degrees longitude east in the area of Hoang Sa archipelago, packing maximum winds of between 134 and 149 km per hour.

In the next 12-24 hours, the typhoon, which is assessed to be the strongest hitting central Vietnam since 2006, will continue to move west at 15-20 km per hours.

It is forecast to strike Vietnam’s central coast by 1:00 pm on September 30, with maximum winds of between 118 and 149 km per hour, bringing heavy rain and whirlwinds to provinces between Binh Thuan and Ca Mau while creating rough swells in northern parts of the East Sea.