The Central Steering Committee for Flood Control and Prevention said as of Monday, 5,624 vessels with 40,427 fishermen were still operating in coastal waters stretching from the central province of Quang Binh to the Mekong Delta’s Tien Giang Province.
Director Bui Minh Tang of the National Hydro-meteorological Forecasting Center said Monday that the Chan-Hom storm, the first tropical storm over East Sea this year, was strengthening and was moving northward at a speed of 5-10 kilometers per hour.
As of 4 p.m. Wednesday, the eye of the storm was expected to be in Truong Sa’s northeastern area with gusts of wind blowing at 89-117 kilometers per hour, Tang said.
Tang said the storm will affect the East Sea’s middle region including Truong Sa and central coast, causing very rough seas with four to six-meter-high waves.
Heavy rains will hit Mekong Delta’s provinces, he added.
Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai Monday directed concerned agencies to prepare for prevention and rescue operations.
The flood control committee said 2,065 coast guards and 123 vehicles had been deployed to deal with the situation while Lieutenant General Tran Quang Khue said 20 vessels and 10 planes stood ready to conduct rescue operations.
Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat said Chan-Hom’s route was similar to the Chan Chu tropical storm which killed 44 and left 190 missing in 2006.
Phat said the priority was warning and instructing fishermen to evade the storm’s reach.
“The waters between Truong Sa and Hoang Sa archipelagos are the most dangerous,” he said.
Chan Hom tropical storm developed from a depression that formed on Saturday off the central coast along with two other low pressure systems. One of them had developed into the Typhoon Kujira in Philippine sea.
No comments:
Post a Comment