Informing humanitarians worldwide 24/7 — a service provided by UN OCHA

Viet Nam

Viet Nam: Tropical low swamps 900 houses

Heavy rain from a tropical low pressure has caused considerable damage to properties in central provinces in the last two days. Winds of up to 50km/h have been reported.

According to the Central Steering Committee for Storm and Flood Control, about 900 households in Da Nang City have been swamped by floodwaters, but details of losses are not yet available.

Driving rain has affected areas from Da Nang to Binh Dinh. The National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting said the eye of the low pressure system was located at 14.7 degrees north latitude and 110.3 degrees east longitude in the East Sea.

It has warned regions between the provinces of Quang Binh and Quang Ngai to prepare for floods and landslides.

The Da Nang City's Steering Committee for Storm and Flood Control reported that torrential rain had also inundated nearly 800ha of rice paddy.

However, this was much less than expected because the local departments of agriculture and rural development redirected drainage systems to minimise the areas affected.

The head of the committee, Le Duy Vong, said that yesterday, there were still 210 boats carrying 1,100 fishermen at sea.

In Quang Ngai Province, heavy rain and high seas are said to have sunk two boats and damaged two others. However all crew members are believed to have been rescued.

Island shelters

The provincial Steering Committee for Storm and Flood Control said more than 1,100 boats with nearly 9,200 crew members aboard had sought safe shelter around the Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelagoes.

The committee has asked provincial sea border stations to maintain contact with offshore boats and keep supplying them with weather updates.

In central Thua Thien-Hue Province, the water level of the Huong River has exceeded level three, which is considered alarming, according to the head of the provincial Steering Committee for Storm and Flood Control, Nguyen Ngoc Giai.

14-hour days

Giai said non-stop rain made it difficult for farmers in Quang Ninh and Le Thuy districts to harvest the summer-autumn rice crop.

"Farmers have to work 14 hours a day harvesting the crop, but if the rain doesn't stop, progress will be slow and the quality of the rice will surely be lowered," he said.

About 1,000 hectares of ripe rice, out of 1,669 hectares that have not been harvested-mostly in Phong Dien, Quang Dien and Phu Loc districts-will be damaged, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development announced.

Phong Dien's Phong An and Phong Son communes have already lost 700ha of rice.

The provincial weather forecast station said local rivers would rise and maybe flood due to the high rainfall of 437mm in the mountainous district of Nam Dong. Rainfall in the delta region is also high, reaching 520mm in Phong Dien's Phong Binh Commune in Hue City.

In central Quang Tri Province, the provincial steering committee has worked directly with district people's committee to prepare damage control plans.

According to Nguyen Van Bai, deputy head of the committee, no damage has been so far reported.

P.Hoa - Thu Ha