VietNamNet Bridge – An historic flood, similar to the flood that battered the central region with 2,000 mm of rain in 1999, is predicted to hit Viet Nam in the second half of this year after the most severe drought in 100 years is forecasted to end by June.

A flood in Uong Bi City, Quang Ninh Province in 2015. An historic flood, similar to the flood that battered the central region with 2,000 mm of rain in 1999, is predicted to hit Viet Nam in the second half of this year after the most severe drought in 100 years is forecasted to end by June. — VNA/VNS Photo

The flood that hit the central region in 1999 was reported to have killed 595 people and caused a loss of over VND3.7 trillion (US$165 million).

The deputy director of the National Centre of Hydro-meteorological Forecasting Le Thanh Hai made the warning at a meeting held yesterday (March 23) in Ha Noi to mark the World Meteorological Day 2016.

Hai said after the El Nino phenomenon weakened in June, rains were expected to fall with higher frequency.

If the La Nina phenomenon, a weather pattern that cools the ocean surface along the tropical Pacific coast of South America, came right after the El Nino in the second half of this year, the possibility of an historic flood was very high, he said.

Besides the flood, irregular weather phenomena were also expected, he said. For example, Hai said the biggest flood in 40 years hit Quang Ninh last August with maximum rainfall of 1,600mm; however there was no rain at all in central Ninh Thuan Province last September.

“That’s a typical example of an irregular weather phenomenon,” he said.

Also at the meeting, Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Chu Pham Ngoc Hien ordered the hydro-meteorological sector to integrate hydro-meteorology into the national plan to implement the Paris Agreement on Environment, adopted in Paris last December by 195 nations.

VNS