Vehicles move in the rain (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – The VietnamMeteorological and Hydrological Administration (VMHA) has built a project toenhance the National Centre forHydrometeorological Forecasting (NCHMF)’s capacity to generate warnings onthunderstorms, lightning, storms, and rain by installing five new radarstations across the country.
The stations will belocated on Pha Din mountain pass in the northern mountainous province of DienBien, in Viet Tri city of the northern midland province of Phu Tho, in NhaTrang city of the central coastal province of Khanh Hoa, in Pleiku city in the CentralHighlands province of Gia Lai, and in Quy Nhon city in the south centralprovince of Binh Dinh.
According to Bui Thi Hong Trang fromthe VMHA, the stations can supply high-resolution weather information withinhundreds of kilometers, which is necessary for the forecasting of coastalstorms, thunderstorms, and heavy rains.
The stations will be equipped withVaisala’s C-WRM200 dual polarisation Doppler weather radars, a new radargeneration with higher sensitivity and lower costs, said Trang.
She added that along with theimproved quality of statistics, the radars will also help improve accuracy inalerting dangerous weather phenomena.
Vietnam is one of the countries hardhit by climate change with frequent extreme weather conditions.
According to the NHMC, the year of2018 will see about 12-14 storms and tropical depressions in the East Sea, withsome 4-6 storms forecast to directly affect Vietnam’s mainland.
Recently, torrential rains and floodsattacked several northern mountainous provinces, especially Ha Giang and LaiChau where flash floods and landslides left 23 dead and 10 missing.
The floods also pulled down or swept away 161 houses,damaged 958 homes, and submerged 1,800 others.
In addition, more than 1,500 ha of rice and crops wereinundated or destroyed, while nearly 600ha of aquaculture were damaged, and 738cattle heads and over 13,800 poultry were killed.
Total damage was estimated at nearly 500 billion VND(around 21.8 million USD).-VNA
VNA
