HANOI, July 24, 2017 (BSS/Xinhua) – Sonca, the fourth tropical storm in the South China Sea so far this year, is most likely to land in Vietnam’s central region, the country’s National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting said on Monday.
On Tuesday, heavy downpour is expected in central provinces from Thanh Hoa to Thua Thien Hue, and there will be strong sea waves with heights of 2-3 meters from Thanh Hoa to Quang Binh provinces.
The storm is predicted to lash Vietnam’s central region and then weaken into a tropical depression in Lao’s central region on Wednesday.
Flash floods and landslides are likely to occur in Vietnam’s northern mountainous provinces, especially in Lai Chau, Lao Cai, Cao Bang and Son La, in the next few days, said the center.
Vietnam’s Central Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control is instructing coastal provinces to prepare to cope with the tropical storm, including calling for fishing and cargo ships to stay away from its route.
In the first half of the year, natural disasters in Vietnam killed or left missing 27 people, injured 30 others, damaged 5,900 houses and inundated 11,400 hectares of crops, causing property losses of over 433 billion Vietnamese dong (19.2 million U.S. dollars), said the General Statistics Office.