Hot spells will continue to hit northern and central Vietnam until August but they will not last for long and be strong, according to the National Hydro-Meteorological Centre (NHMC).

Hot spells will continue to hit northern and central Vietnam until August but they will not last for long and be strong.

In the northern region, most of torrential rainfalls will happen from June to August while the temperature in November and December will be 0.5 – 1.0 Celsius degree higher than the average of previous years.

The centre warned that from July to September, large waves, which can be 2 – 4 metres high, are forecast to occur from July to September in waters off central and southern provinces due to impacts of the southwest monsoon while coastal northern provinces must also watch out for northeast monsoon large waves.

The year 2018 will see about 12 – 13 storms and tropical depressions in the East Sea, some 4 – 5 are forecast to directly affect Vietnam’s mainland. 

Typhoons and tropical depressions are more likely to hit the northern part of the East Sea at the beginning of this rainy season and will move towards the south in late 2018. However, their impact on southern Vietnam is expected to be not as severe as that in 2016 and 2017.

According to the report issued by the Vietnam Disaster Management Authority, 2017 witnessed a record 16 storms and six tropical depressions in the East Sea, of which five storms and three tropical depressions directly hit Vietnam. Two of the storms were severe – Typhoon Doksuri hitting the north central region in mid-September and Typhoon Damrey striking the south central region in November.

The heaviest storm in the last 30 years, storm Damrey, hit the south central provinces of Phu Yen and Khanh Hoa with a wind speed of 133km per hour. After nine hours, the storm had killed 44 people, damaged 114,000 houses in Khanh Hoa province and caused landslides. At Quy Nhon Port in Binh Dinh province, ten vessels sank, leading to the deaths of several crew members.

The storm circulation and cold air led to heavy downpours from Thua Thien–Hue province to Binh Thuan province as well as in the Central Highlands, affecting the lives of 4.3 million people. The total loss caused by storm Damrey was estimated at 22,680 billion VND (1 billion USD).

Severe disasters resulted in 386 people being declared dead or missing, 122 more people than in 2016 and 86 more people than the average number of the past decade. Economic losses amounted to 60,000 billion VND (2.6 billion USD), a 30-percent increase compared with 2016 and 2.5 times higher than the average of the past decade.-VNA