VietNamNet Bridge – Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has asked ministries and agencies to promptly work on the aftermath of storm Mirinae that hit northern provinces from midnight of Wednesday.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has asked ministries and agencies to promptly work on the aftermath of storm Mirinae that hit northern provinces from midnight of Wednesday.

Mirinae, the first storm to hit Viet Nam this year, made landfall with wind speeds of level 11–12 (about 100-130km per hour). It damaged crops, uprooted thousands of trees and caused massive power cuts in the north including in Ha Noi, Thai Binh, Hai Phong, Ha Nam and Ninh Binh.

The PM asked the Agriculture and Rural Development Ministry to closely supervise drainage, the operation of reservoirs and dyke protection.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade was asked to fix electricity problems and ensure power supply, while the Transport Ministry took measures to resume smooth traffic.

Localities would calculate losses and damage and offer assistance to affected people as soon as possible.

According to Electricity of Viet Nam (EVN), about 1 million people suffered from power cuts when strong winds brought down about 17,000 high voltage electric poles.

Until yesterday, EVN had fixed the problem on the 500kV Thuong Tin–Nho Quan and 220kV Ninh Binh–Bim Son electrical lines. About 321 out of 493 damaged power wires were fixed.

Ngo Nam Phong, chairman of EVN Ninh Binh, said that more than 200 electric poles in the province were leaning over or had fallen down because of the storm, causing power blackouts in the whole province.

Power supply was mostly resumed late afternoon on Thursday, he said.

The storm also unroofed thousands of houses, uprooted trees and flooded thousands of hectares of crops, Phong said.

The National Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control reported that almost 200,000ha of rice fields were flooded including 18,000ha in Ha Nam, 1,540ha in Ha Noi, 50,000ha in Thai Binh, 77,800ha in Nam Dinh, 37,000ha in Ninh Binh and 650ha in Hoa Binh.

About 20,800ha of other crops had been flooded including 8,000ha in Thai Binh, 8,500ha in Nam Dinh and 3,000ha in Ninh Binh.

The committee warned at yesterday’s meeting about a new low pressure system that has formed to the east of the Philippine’s sea, which might gain strength to become a storm in the next few days and enter the East Sea.

Vice Head of the Cultivation Department under the Agriculture Ministry, Nguyen Nhu Cuong, said that irrigation and drainage were the key tasks now. Slow drainage plus continued heavy rain could damage the crops, he said.

Under the impact of the storm, the northern mountainous province of Bac Kan saw heavy rain in the last two days.

Accompanying the rain, floods and landslides occurred, restricting vehicle movement, particularly cars and trucks, a Vietnam News Agency reporter said.

Thousands of cubic metres of rock and soil slid down Ba Bo Mountain Pass, blocking traffic on provincial highway 258B. Landslides buried a filling station and damaged a house in Yen My Commune, Cho Don District.

In Ha Noi, heaps of branches and leaves from uprooted trees remained along streets until yesterday, waiting for removal. About 700 trees were reportedly uprooted or broken in Ha Noi during the storm.

Source: VNS