A tropical cyclone is a generic term used by meteorologists to describe a rotating, organised system of clouds and thunderstorms that originates over tropical or subtropical waters and has closed, low-level circulation. (Photo: kinhtemoitruong.vn) The centre is also forecasting rainfall across the country to be 10-35 percentlower than the average despite two tropical cyclones expected to appear on theEast Sea by the beginning of August.
Rainfalls, however, in the northern mountainous provinces and southeasternprovinces may be up to 10-20 percent higher than average.
This year’s storm season will see 10-12 storms and tropical depressions on theEast Sea. Of them, five to seven storms and a tropical depression coulddirectly affect the country’s mainland, the centre has said.
Mai Van Khiem, Director of the National Hydrometeorological Forecast Centre,said they are prepared to deliver more frequent notices on dangerous weather andapply real-time tools to monitor storms and floods. Dangerous weather updateswill be sent to every province with details of the projected impacts of naturaldisasters on socio-economic activities and vulnerable groups, Khiem said.
The national weather agency expects to be able to provide people with hourlyupdates by using real-time data collected from radars and satellites. This willalso improve the quality of rain forecasts, and flood and landslide warnings.
Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Le Cong Thanh has askedagencies to actively monitor, evaluate, and deal with consequences of marineenvironmental incidents or oil spills if they occurred.
It’s also necessary to strengthen the monitoring of waves and sea currents byusing marine radar for warning and forecasting of natural disasters, he said.
Furthermore, the operation of reservoirs must be supervised closely.
Thanh said the department is asking for applications of advanced scientific andtechnological research studies to improve weather forecasting, warnings andnatural disaster prevention and control.
In the first half of this year, Vietnam faced two storms, and 59 lightearthquakes, 137 hailstorms and thunderstorms. There were also five coldspells, 14 periods of heavy rain floods, two flash floods and 60riverside-landslides. Natural disasters killed 25 people, injured 31 people andcaused losses worth over 132 billion VND (5.75 million USD), according to the VietnamDisaster Management Authority.
In Vietnam, the storm season usually lasts between July and December./.
VNA
