Yen Bai soldiers help local people in Pu Tram ward, Nghia Lo town to overcome natural disasters.

The telegraph was sent to the People's Committees of Yen Bai, Son La, Hoa Binh, Phu Tho, Vinh Phuc, Hanoi, Hung Yen, Ha Nam, Nam Dinh, Thai Binh, Bac Ninh, Hai Duong, Ninh Binh, Thanh Hoa, Hoa Binh, Nghe An and Ha Tinh; as well as the National Committee for Response to Disaster and Search and Rescue, the Central Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control, and Ministries of Defence, Public Security, Agriculture and Rural Development, Transport, Health and Industry and Trade, urging for measures focusing on post-flood rehabilitation, preparing seeds to restore production and actively taking measures in order to cope with weather fluctuations.

Heavy rains triggered by a tropical low pressure system over the past few days caused serious damage to the provinces. 

Information from the Central Steering Committee on Disaster Prevention and Control shows that, by the end of October 12, floods had killed 54 people, left 39 others missing and 31 injured.

Floods broke parts of Cau Chay River dike in Tho Xuan district, Thanh Hoa province, while eroding sections on a range of highways in the two regions. 

In addition, many areas in Hoa Binh, Yen Bai and Son La remain separated.

Functional forces search for victims buried in a landslide in Hoa Binh’s Tan Lac district on Thursday morning. So far, ten bodies among the 18 missing have been found.

As many as 32 people are dead or missing and nine others have been injured in Hoa Binh, as of 7 am on October 13. Of the deaths, 17 bodies have been recovered, according to the provincial Disaster Control and Search and Rescue Steering Board. Up to 900 households in the disaster-hit areas have been evacuated to safer places.

All of the province’s rice and cash crop farming areas and 540 ha of fish farming have been affected, while many infrastructural and irrigation facilities in the locality were badly damaged.

As of 7 am on October 13, the Hoa Binh hydro-electricity power plant closed all of its six floodgates. The move reduces the risk of flooding in lower areas. The plant closed two of its floodgates on October 11.

Aid provided to locals at the sites affected by floods in Thanh Hoa’s Thach Thanh district.

As of 7 pm on October 12, floods in Yen Bai had left four dead, 14 missing and seven wounded. A lot of property, crops and public works were damaged with losses estimated at VND120 billion.

In Son La province there are still 11 communes with dozens of isolated areas due to flooding and traffic jams. Of the eight dead and missing, as of noon yesterday, the sixth victim had been identified.

In Phu Tho, rains and floods have left three people injured and nearly 500 houses collapsed with damages estimated at about VND22.8 billion.

Water levels in the Red River in Hanoi are likely to be as high as 8m on Friday morning. The floods spread over the cultivated areas of local people on both sides of the Red River in Hanoi.

In addition to the mountainous Northern provinces, in Hanoi Chuong My district has been heavily affected by the floods. 

From 7 am to 9 am on October 12, rainfall of 300-340 mm submerged more than 92 ha of rice, 840 ha of winter crops, nearly 64 ha of fruit trees and more than 125 ha of aquaculture in the district.

In addition to Chuong My, floods also occurred in a number of other districts, such as My Duc, Quoc Oai and Phuc Tho. 

Meanwhile, water levels in the Red River, in Hanoi’s suburbs, are continuously rising, blocking boats from travelling through Long Bien Bridge. Cultivated land of the local people in riverside areas has also been flooded.

The Vietnam Red Cross Society (VRC) provided urgent relief, on October 12, including VND900 million in cash and necessities worth over VND50 million, for people severely affected by floods in the northern and central regions.

National Highway No. 37 had been cleared as of the afternoon of October 12 but transportation through the route to Son La and the Northwest provinces remains difficult.

The VRC dispatched four working teams to visit flood-hit areas in northern Yen Bai, Hoa Binh, Son La, and central Thanh Hoa and Nghe An provinces, where they presented cash, food, disinfectants and other supplies to affected people.

Earlier, the VRC Central Committee launched a “texting” campaign “Vi dong bao vung lu” (For flood victims) calling people from across the country to make donations via text. 

Donators can text UH to 1409 and each text is worth VND20,000. All money collected from the campaign, running until November 7, will be used to support affected people with necessities, housing and their livelihoods, helping them to overcome difficulties. 

The project has to date received approximately 108,000 text messages, equivalent to over VND2.1 billion (US$92,400).

Armed forces help farmers in Ha Lan commune, Bim Son town (Thanh Hoa) to harvest flooded rice.

Meanwhile, the Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee also decided to allocate VND2 billion to flood-affected people in the provinces of Hoa Binh, Yen Bai, Son La, Thanh Hoa, Nghe An and Ha Tinh, on October 12. 

Accordingly, Hoa Binh was presented with VND1 billion, while the remaining provinces received VND200 million each. The funds will be sent to households that have lost family members, have injured people, or had their houses damaged in the floods.

Early this morning, the Hanoi - Lao Cai railway route through Lam Giang Station in Yen Bai officially resumed service after more than three days of closure due to a landslide. 

Earlier on yesterday afternoon, the north-south railway was unloaded after floods affected many parts of Thanh Hoa’s railway system, forcing trains to stop at a range of local stations.

Due to a cold wave and the influence of a recent low pressure system, provinces from Thanh Hoa to Thua Thien-Hue continue to experience heavy rains, with total rainfall hitting 50-100mm in each locality, and even 150mm in coastal localities such as Thanh Hoa, Nghe An and Ha Tinh. 

From the afternoon of October 12, rains have reduced and are forecast to stop in the next two days, before more rain arrives with a new low pressure system at the weekend.

Amidst the current flooding, a new tropical depression off the Philippines has strengthened into a new storm and is expected to affect Vietnam, becoming the 11th storm to enter the East Sea this year. (Credit: nchmf.gov.vn)

According to the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting, the aforementioned tropical depression eastern off the Philippines has strengthened into a typhoon with an international name of Khanun.

On October 13, it is forecast that the storm will move west-west ward at 20-25kph. At 7 pm today, the hurricane centre will be located at approximately 17.4 degrees north latitude and 118.5 east longitude, around 670 km east off Vietnam’s Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelago. 

The strongest wind in the area near the centre of the storm is blowing at 60-90kph.

The national meteorological agency has also forecast the low receding of water levels on Hoang Long, Thao and Red Rivers, as well as warnings of the risk of landslide and subsidence caused by the floods in the provinces of Yen Bai, Phu Tho, Hoa Binh and Ninh Binh.

Heavy rains have caused heavy damage on roads in the northern and central regions, leading to traffic jams.

Nhan Dan