Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai on Sept. 28 took control of measures to handle the effects of Tropical Storm Ketsana, which follows floods that claimed at least nine lives.

In a decisive step, he signed an urgent dispatch forbidding fishing boats from Thanh Hoa to Quang Ngai provinces from going to sea.

However, many fishing boats are believed to be still in heavy seas near the eye of the storm, according to Le Minh Nhat, deputy director of the Flood and Storm Prevention Centre for the Central and Central Highland regions.

Radio contact has been lost since Sept. 27 with two boats with a total of 23 fishermen on board.
The storm is expected to hit central Vietnam at midday, September 29.

Floods in the central Thanh Hoa province have claimed the lives of seven people and another person is missing.

They have also inundated 5,500 houses, swamped about 7,000 ha of autumn crops, and swept away nearly 3,000 poultry and cattle. Property losses have been estimated at 270 billion VND (15 million USD).

According to the provincial Steering Committee for Flood and Storm Prevention and Control, the province’s 4,000 fishing boats are safe in shelters.

Provincial authorities have assigned 500 soldiers and 100 police offers to protect residents and property, particularly the Cua Dat Hydro-electricity Power Plant which is under construction.

Hai’s official dispatch has ordered authorities in central provinces to move any residents living in dangerous zones to safer areas. It also urges schools to close to ensure the safety of students.

The Deputy PM travelled to Thua Thien-Hue province on Sept. 28 to help set up a steering committee for storm mitigation.

The National Centre for Hydro-Meteorology Forecasting said the eye of the storm was 330km east of the coasts off Thua Thien-Hue and Quang Nam Provinces at 4 pm on Sept. 28. Wind speeds of up to 133 kph were recorded.

The storm is expected to continue moving in a westerly and west-north westerly direction at 10-15 kph and, if it continues on its present course, it will directly hit provinces from Quang Binh to Quang Ngai and the southern areas of the Bac Bo ( Tonkin ) Gulf.

At 10am Sept. 29, the storm’s eye is forecast to be 100km east of Quang Tri to Quang Nam provinces.

Strong winds with gusts of up to 183km/h are expected to hit northern and central areas along the East Sea , including the Hoang Sa (Paracel) Archipelago, the southern region of the Bac Bo Gulf.

Central provinces from Thanh Hoa to Quang Ngai and northern areas of the Central Highlands have been warned to watch out for more flash and landslides.

Coastal areas in provinces from Thanh Hoa to Thua Thien-Hue have warned sea levels at high tide could be 5m higher than usual.

Several flights to central Da Nang City and Thua Thien-Hue’s Hue City have been cancelled due to strong wind gusts.

In central Quang Nam province, the local People’s Committee plans to move 4,600 residents in low lying areas and high-risk landslide areas out of danger.

In Quang Binh province, floods caused one death and injured three others and up to 5,000 houses were flooded to 1m. More than 1,000ha of crops were also inundated.

Provincial authorities plan to move about 11,500 households from along the Kien Giang River, which flows through Le Thuy and Quang Ninh districts, to safer places.

By late Sept. 28, almost 31,000 boats with 130,283 fishermen from Quang Ninh to Binh Thuan provinces had moved to safety.

However, more than 4,000 boats continued to operate offshore from Quang Binh to Khanh Hoa provinces. They have been instructed to move to Tru Cau Island in Hoang Sa Archipelago for shelter.

These include 2,693 boats from Binh Dinh, 762 from Quang Ngai, 137 from Quang Nam and 101 from Da Nang, Thua Thien-Hue and Quang Tri provinces.

Twenty-three of the Quang Ngai boats planned to shelter in the Hoang Sa Archipelago.

Quang Ngai’s storm prevention centre on Sept. 28 morning reported they had lost communication with a boat (QNg 66085 TS) carrying 16 people since Sept. 27 evening./.