| Storm victim toll rises to 65 in Phu Yen - Storm victim toll rises to 65 in Phu Yen

Tropical storm Mirinae, which hit the south-central province of Phu Yen on November 2, killed at least 65 people and left 16 others missing, said local officials.

The mountain district of Dong Xuan reported the largest number of deaths (30) followed by Tuy An district (20), Song Cau town (13), Tuy Hoa City and Tay Hoa district (2 each).

About 145 boats sank, 413 houses collapsed and 5,540 other were damaged, said local officials.

The death toll might keep rising as violent flood waters made it impossible for rescue workers to reach isolated areas.

The province had moved 4,207 families with more than 16,000 residents to safer zones before the storm made landfall. However, many areas in Tuy An district and Song Cau town have remained cut off.

Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai on November 4 flew to Phu Yen to direct rescue work in flooded communes. He asked the province to mobilize all rescue forces and distribute food and other necessities to isolated villages as early as possible to ensure no one is left hungry.

He also asked local administrations to provide emergency aid to families that lost their relatives and had their houses damaged during the storm.

In the evening of November 3, National Highway No1A which had been blocked by landslides, was open to traffic again. The provincial People’s Committee deployed 10 buses to transport 1,800 train passengers stranded at local railway stations to Dieu Tri railway station in nearby Binh Dinh province.

Vietnam prepares for Parma as storm to make landfall | Look At Vietnam

Vietnam banned all boats along the northern coast from heading to sea as Tropical Storm Parma moved over the Gulf of Tonkin and headed for the country after leaving more than 300 people dead in the Philippines and China.

Vietnam’s National Committee for Flood and Storm Control said on its website the storm is bringing winds as high as 88 kilometers (55 miles) per hour along with heavy rain as it approaches the coast.

These conditions are forecast to remain in effect until about midday on Wednesday, it said.

The committee ordered local authorities to evacuate people in areas that may be affected by tidal surge from the northern province of Quang Ninh to Ha Tinh by 7 p.m. local time as the storm is moving toward the coast line at high speed, according to an update posted on the committee’s website Tuesday. All rescue forces will have to be on stand-by for immediate action when required, the statement said.

Parma’s center may be located about 130 kilometers east of the coast near Hanoi by 7 p.m. local time, according to another statement on the government’s website Tuesday. Parma is forecast to weaken to a tropical depression after crossing the coast.

The system is threatening to make its fifth landfall in a third country, after crossing the Philippines island of Luzon three times last week, leaving at least 311 people dead. Parma hit China’s southern island of Hainan Monday, killing at least three people.

The storm is forecast to cross the Vietnamese coast south of Hanoi later Tuesday or early Wednesday, the US Joint Typhoon Warning Center said in its latest advisory.

Capsized boat

Three people died in China after their boat was capsized in the storm off Wanning city, the state-run Xinhua News Agency said, citing the Hainan Provincial Emergency Response Office.

In the Philippines, forty-eight people remain missing in Luzon while 80,262 are in evacuation centers, the National Disaster Coordinating Council said in a report Tuesday.

Vietnam was hit by Typhoon Ketsana on Sept. 29, leaving 163 people dead and 11 missing, according to the Vietnamese government.

Ketsana left 337 people dead and 37 missing in the Philippines when it crossed Luzon as a tropical storm three days earlier.

Source: Bloomberg

Tropical Storm Heads for Vietnam; Three Die in China (Update2)

Oct. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Tropical Storm Parma moved over the Gulf of Tonkin and headed for Vietnam after leaving three people dead on the southern Chinese island of Hainan.

The storm was 298 kilometers (185 miles) east-southeast of Hanoi at 7 a.m. Vietnam time with maximum sustained winds of 65 kilometers per hour, the U.S. Joint Typhoon Warning Center said in its latest advisory. It was moving west-northwest at 7 kph.

The storm is forecast to cross the Vietnamese coast south of Hanoi later today or early tomorrow. Authorities in Vietnam issued alerts for heavy rains and a tidal surge as high as 4 meters (13 feet). Local authorities were ordered to consider evacuating people in low-lying areas, according to the Web site of the National Committee for Flood and Storm Control.

Three people died in China after their boat was capsized in the storm off Wanning city, the state-run Xinhua News Agency said, citing the Hainan Provincial Emergency Response Office.

Parma left at least 311 people dead in the Philippines, where it made landfall three times. Forty-eight people remain missing in Luzon while 80,262 are in evacuation centers, the National Disaster Coordinating Council said in a report.

Vietnam was hit by Typhoon Ketsana on Sept. 29, leaving 163 people dead and 11 missing as of 9 p.m. on Oct. 5, according to the Vietnamese government.

Ketsana left 337 people dead and 37 missing in the Philippines when it crossed Luzon as a tropical storm three days earlier.

To contact the reporters on this story: Ryan Flinn in San Francisco at rflinn@bloomberg.net; Aaron Sheldrick in Tokyo at asheldrick@bloomberg.net.

Central region: 10 million people struggling with floods

photo by Chuck Kuhn

Annually, land between Thanh Hoa and Phu Yen provinces suffers 65% of the total typhoons, floods, and tropical depressions in Vietnam. How to mitigate the misfortunes of citizens in these areas was the matter discussed by experts at a recent workshop in the central city of Da Nang.

According to the Central Steering Board for Flood and Storm Control, typhoons and floods cause losses equivalent to 1% of Vietnam’s gross domestic product (GDP). The central region, with around 10 million, suffers the heaviest losses. Last year three floods killed 167 people, forced nearly 60,000 families to evacuate, and damaged more than 60,000ha of crops in the region.

There is a paradox that the rainfall didn’t increase but floods got more serious year on year. According to the Central Region Hydrometeorology Station, the average rainfall on major rivers like Vu Gia and Thu Bon of Quang Nam province was 1,300mm/day during the flood in November 1999, double that of the flood in early November 2007. However, the flood in 2007 was 0.2-0.5m higher than that in 1999.

Experts say people are harming themselves. Statistics by the forest sector show that Vietnam loses around 100,000ha of forest each year on average, which causes floods.

Another reason, according to Vice Chairman of Da Nang city, Tran Phuoc Chinh, is the upgrade and expansion of national highways, such as 1A, 14B, and the North-South railways, which prevent water drainage, resulting in longer floods.

The construction of coastal residential areas, tourist sites, hotels and resorts is the third reason as they change the flows of rivers, narrow seaports, etc.

Experts suggest that policy makers amend construction plans and build shelters from floods and storms for people in the central region.

In December 2007, the government assigned the Ministry of Construction to design a living-with-flood project for central provinces from Thanh Hoa to Phu Yen. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Planning and Investment and the administrations of 11 related provinces must cooperate with the Ministry of Construction to implement this project.

(Source: VNE)