Typhoon Nangka to hit mainland on October 14

Border guards of Sam Son city, Thanh Hoa province, assist fishermen to tie up a boat to help minimise storm impacts (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi - Typhoon Nangka, the seventh in the East Sea so far this year, is moving fast and is forecast to hit the mainland on October 14, a meeting of the Central Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control on October 13 heard.

According to Mai Van Khiem, Director of the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting, the storm is forecast to enter the Gulf of Tonkin and hit provinces in the south of the northern delta and those in the north-central region around noon and in the afternoon of October 14. Rain of over 400 mm will fall in some places until October 16. The hardest-hit areas are northern Son La, Hoa Binh, Thanh Hoa, and Nghe An provinces, as well as others in the northern delta.

Khiem said the risk of flooding is high in the northern region.

Representatives from the border guard and the steering committee’s office said vessels and people living on floating facilities have been urged to seek safe shelter, while 18.5 tonnes of dry provisions have been delivered to the central region.

A working delegation has been sent to the Phong Dien hydropower site to tackle its landslide issue, they added.

The Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, meanwhile, said it has proposed urgent aid of 4,500 tonnes of rice be sent to support people in the central region, while the Foreign Ministry has contacted agencies in the Philippines, China, and elsewhere to seek cooperation in assisting Vietnamese fishermen during the storm.

A representative from the Transport Ministry said that as of the morning of October 13, several areas were still flooded along national highways and railways in central Quang Tri and Thua Thien-Hue provinces.

Deputy chief of the steering committee’s office, Vu Xuan Thanh, ordered all sectors and localities to follow the Prime Minister’s directions, stressing the necessity of ensuring safe shelter for vessels and people, inspections of hydropower facilities, and rice aid for storm-hit residents, among other matters.