People’s Committees of cities and provinces need to ensure safety of activities at sea, coordinate with concerned forces to control the operation of vessels. (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – Prime Minister Nguyen XuanPhuc on September 16 issued a notice, asking relevant ministries, agencies andlocalities to keep a close eye on the development of Storm Noul and put forthspecific tasks.
People’s Committees of cities and provinces need toensure safety of activities at sea, coordinate with concerned forces tocontrol the operation of vessels, and guide local residents to take preventivemeasures in order to protect crops, houses and other facilities.
Human resources and equipment should be ready for theevacuation of people in dangerous areas, with attention paid to COVID-19prevention and control, according to the notice.
The PM has warned of flash floods and landslides inmountainous areas after heavy rains, saying measures are needed to ensure thesafety of reservoirs, especially important ones or those under construction.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Natural Resources andEnvironment will provide update about the storm for people andrelevant agencies.
The Central Steering Committee for Natural DisasterPrevention and Control will inform vessels of dangerous areas, and instructministries, agencies and localities in response efforts.
Specific tasks have also been assigned to otherministries and agencies in the notice.
At 4 a.m. on September 17, storm Noul is forecast to be around 450 km to the southeast of Vietnam’s Hoang Sa (Paracel)archipelago, off the central coast, with a maximum wind speed of 90 kph.
Weather forecasting centers in Japan, Hong Kong andthe Philippines, and Tropical Storm Risk (TSR) - a leading forecaster and mapperof tropical storm activity - predict the storm will keep strengthening untilwind speeds reach 110-120 kph and head toward central Vietnam.
Storm Noul is the fifth formed this year in the EastSea. The fourth storm, Higos, hit last month, making landfall in China.
Natural disasters like droughts, floods and landslideskilled 133 people in Vietnam last year and caused losses worth around 7trillion VND (302.6 million USD), according to the Ministry of Agriculture andRural Development.
In the first half of this year they claimed 47 livesand caused losses worth 3.3 trillion VND.
The East Sea could see 11-13 storms and tropicaldepressions this year, half of them affecting the country, meteorologists havewarned./.
VNA
