VietNamNet Bridge – Tropical storm Pabuk, the first to hit the East Sea this year, is heading toward the Gulf of Thailand but is still expected to cause heavy rains in southern Vietnam.

Storm Pabuk is expected to cause heavy rains and rough sea in southern localities before reaching the Gulf of Thailand. — Photo Courtesy of the National Hydro-meteorological Forecasting Centre

The storm is moving west-northwest at a speed of 15km per hour and is expected to cause rough seas and heavy rains in southern localities from Ba Ria Vung Tau to Ca Mau provinces, including Con Dao island District, and from Ca Mau to Kien Giang provinces, including Phu Quoc island district and Tho Chu island, according to the National Hydro-meteorological Forecasting Centre.

The sea areas in the south of the Gulf of Thailand and the south of Ca Mau are forecast to experience rough seas and waves of up to five metres.

At 1pm on Thursday, the storm’s eye was 240km south of Ca Mau. Wind speeds at the eye reached up to 90 km per hour.

The eye will be 370km west-southwest of Tho Chu island in southern Kien Giang Province at 10pm on Friday.

It is expected to maintain its direction at a speed of 15-20km per hour and reach Thailand on Saturday.

The storm has caused heavy rains and thunderstorms in Ninh Thuan Province since Tuesday night with rainfall of 80-130mm per day.

Water release

Hundreds of hectares of crops in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong’s Don Duong District were flooded after a huge volume of water was released from Da Nhim Hydropower Plant last week, Môi trường & Đô thị (Environment & Urban Affairs) online newspaper reported.

The plant started to release water last Friday at a level of 25cu.m per second, which then increased to 300-350cu.m per second. The release lasted through Saturday.

A representative from the district’s Division of Agriculture and Rural Development told the newspaper the they received reports about the plant’s water discharge from every three hours. More than 100ha of local farmers’ crops and assets were submerged.

Rescue activities are being carried out to help farmers mitigate the impact, he said.

Pham Thi Huong, a farmer from the district, said the water came too quickly to prepare. “I lost all vegetables grown in my greenhouse, which is estimated to cost nearly VND1 billion (US$43,000),” she said. 

Source: VNS