Fishing boats dock in a safe port in Rach Gia city of Kien Giang (Photo: VNA) Can Tho(VNA) – The Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention, Search andRescue of the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho has urged local vulnerable localitiesto evacuate locals to safe places as Typhoon Tembin is heading to Vietnam’smainland.
The tropical storm, the16th hitting the East Sea so far this year, is likely to force over 137,000 peoplein Can Tho to evacuate and affect its infrastructure and crops.
The committee directedlocal authorities to deploy people and vehicles to help locals, while designingplans to cope with the storm’s effects.
Typhoon Tembin, whichlanded in the Philippines on December 23, killing 200 people and leaving dozensof others missing, is forecast to impacts a number of Mekong Delta localities.
At 10am of December 24,the storm’s centre was about 230km east of Truong Sa Lon island of the TruongSa (Spratly) archipelago with wind speed of 115-135km per hour.
According to the National Centre for Hydro-meteorological Forecasting (NCHMF),in the next 24 hours, the storm is moving towards west at 25 km per hour. At10am of December 25, the storm’s centre is about 220km east of Con Dao islandoffshore Ba Ria-Vung Tau province. The strongest wind speeds may reach 115 -135 km per hour.
Leaders of Ba Ria-Vung Tau province on December 24 inspected storm control workat local coastal localities in Vung Tau city, Long Dien, Dat Do and Xuyen Mocdistricts.
According to the city people’s committee, 49 ships with 362 crewmembers onboard are operating at sea. All are updated with the storm’s developments andasked to seek shelter.
The city built two evacuation plans for 16,500 households with 36,752 people.
Meanwhile, Ca Mau province banned all fishing vessels to leave the shore asfrom 16:00 of December 23. Authorities have contacted 862 fishing boatsoperating at sea, including 372 offshore fishing vessels, to notice them tofind safe shelters. So far, 743 vessels have docked in safe ports.
The provincialPeople’s Committee also asked agencies, departments and localities to call on localsto reinforce their houses and production facilities to minimise losses.
On December 24, thePeople’s Committee of Dong Thap province held an urgent meeting with 12localities to launch plans to cope with the storm. Chairman of the committeeNguyen Van Duong asked the localities to update locals on developments of thestorm, while reinforcing dykes and irrigation works, and promptly finishingcrop harvesting.
Khuong Le Binh,Director of the Hydro-meteorological Centre of Dong Thap, said that in severaldays, the typhoon is predicted to land in the mainland, directly affectinglocalities from Ba Ria-Vung Tau to Ca Mau.
Currently, the stormis 900km off Dong Thap province with wind speed of 25km per hour. It isforecast to hit Dong Thao on early December 26 with heavy rain and strong wind,he added.
At the same time, thePeople’s Committee of Bac Lieu province started evacuating locals in riskyplaces from December 24. Bac Lieu plans to move over 85,000 households with365,700 people in 31,000 vulnerable locations.
More than 12,000people and 24,000 vehicles have been mobilised. The province has also appliedmeasures to protect 33,000 hectares of rice-shrimp farms, 46,000 hectares ofrice and 76,000 hectares of aquaculture farms.
Bac Lieu has 1,232fishing vessels, of which 177 are operating at sea and heading to the port.
In southern Tay Ninhprovince, locals residing around Dau Tieng Lake, Sai Gon and Vam Co Rivers areasked to move to safer places and reinforce their houses.
Le Van Dung, Directorof Dau Tieng-Phuoc Hoa irrigation company, said that on December 24, thecompany deployed personnel to keep a close watch to the movement of Tembin andimplement necessary responding measures.
Heavy rain and strongwind is forecast in Tay Ninh from December 25-26.
Earlier on December23, the central province of Binh Thuan banned fishing vessels to go to sea from16:00. As of December 23, 252 vessels with 1,875 people aboard were operatingat sea. They were informed of the storm and guidelines to seek safeshelters.-VNA
VNA
