The direction of the typhoon Higos. —Photo nchmf.gov.vn

Nguyen Hoang Hiep, deputy minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, issued the order when he chaired an urgent meeting of the Central Steering Committee on Natural Disaster Prevention and Control with relevant agencies and northern localities yesterday after the tropical low-pressure system became the fourth typhoon to hit the East Sea this year.

The National Centre for Hydro-meteorological Forecasting said the typhoon gained strength from a tropical low-pressure system early yesterday morning. It was about 570km northeast of Hoang Sa (Paracel) Archipelago by 1pm yesterday with the strongest winds at its eye of 75km per hour. It was moving west-northwest at 20km per hour and would gain more strength in the next 24 hours.

Torrential rains, triggered by the typhoon, were also predicted to inundate urban areas in Hanoi and Quang Ninh in the coming days, the centre said.

Therefore, Hiep told the northern mountainous provinces to quickly check and evacuate people living in high-risk areas of flash floods and landslides.

The provinces were asked to arrange traffic police at areas at risk of flooding to ensure traffic flow and safety for road users, he said.

All forces must be ready to fix roads after heavy rain, he said.

In the meantime, delta provinces and cities were required to allocate forces to cope with flooding in the coming days, he said.

The localities’ administration was also assigned to ensure safety for mines and reservoirs, especially reservoirs of small hydro-power plants that were recently affected by minor earthquakes, he said.

He said the localities’ administration had to pay more attention to the operation of hydro-power plants’ reservoirs on the Da River.

Hiep noted that Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong would attend a meeting on the operation of Son La Hydro-power Plan’s reservoir during the typhoon.

Hiep said that this was the peak of flood season in the northern region. At this time, Son La Hydro-power Plan’s reservoir was only allowed to store water reaching 197.3 metres. However, the water level of the reservoir was only 1 metre lower than permitted and the water flowing to the reservoir was 5,230 cubic metres per second. It would reach 8,000 cubic metres per second due to the typhoon on Friday.

Thus, it needed close monitoring and flexible operation to ensure safety, he said.

Also at the meeting, Hiep directed the Search and Rescue agency in localities to broadcast the typhoon’s developments to offshore vessels and ask them to avoid dangerous areas, caused by the typhoon, and find safe anchorage.

Speaking at the meeting yesterday morning, Tran Quang Hoai, deputy head of the Central Steering Committee on Natural Disaster Prevention and Control, said there were currently no vessels in dangerous areas.

Hoai also said six earthquakes and aftershocks, measuring about 3-4 on the Richter scale, occurred in the northern province of Son La on Monday, so it was necessary to ensure the safety of local reservoirs.

In a report released yesterday by the Border Guard Force and the General Department of Fisheries, about 500 fishing vessels were operating in the Tonkin Gulf yesterday. The agencies would inform the vessels to avoid dangerous areas.

Previously, the Central Steering Committee on Natural Disaster Prevention and Control sent an urgent message on Monday to ask relevant ministers, sectors and localities to take prompt measures to actively prepare for the tropical low-pressure system.

In another development, heavy rains in the northern region have killed two people, leaving two others missing and injuring three.

A 44-year-old man was killed after a landslide occurred early yesterday morning in the northern mountainous province of Lai Chau; and a 33-year-old woman reportedly died yesterday after being swept away by a flood in Thai Nguyen Province.

The missing people live in Vinh Phuc Province and the three injured people live in Quang Ninh Province.

The heavy rains also destroyed 114ha of crops, inundated 3km of National Highway No 18 in Quang Ninh Province and damaged 14 houses in Dien Bien Province.  VNS

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