by Vu Kim Chung
27-10-1999
Five Killed in Flooding in Northern and Central Vietnam
Floods in northern and central Vietnam killed five people over the October 16-17, 1999 weekend, Vietnam government officials reported..
One person was killed in the northern province of Thanh Hoa while a family of four drowned in the central province of Quang Ngai, provincial floods and storm control committee officials said. Downpours of nearly 20 inches on October 15 swamped a swath of land in Thanh Hoa province, flooding almost 62,000 acres of rice fields and damaging parts of the recently rehabilitated Song Chu Irrigation Scheme. Heavy showers caused by tropical low pressure during the same weekend submerged 8,000 acres of rice fields in Quang Ngai province.
Tropical Storm Eve Strikes Central Vietnam
Tropical storm Eve battered central Quang Ngai province early October 20 after touching land in Da Nang city and destroying houses in exposed coastal areas. Weather experts at the Storm and Flood Control Centre said 23 houses were destroyed and 37 other households were moved to safety. Vietnam's National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting warned Eve, which had been gathering force in the East Sea for several days, threatened to hit land.
 Eve hits Thanh Binh Beach in Da Nang |
Officials warned coastal provinces stretching from Quang
Tri to Binh Dinh to expect a battering from the east-south-easterly storm
with winds which would reach speeds of up to 88 kph - Force Nine on the Beaufort
scale. There were rough seas as waves up to four metres high, boosted by
medium to heavy rainfall in Quanh Binh and the northern Tay Nguyen (Central
Highlands).
In Thua Thien-Hue province, water levels in rivers - already swollen by recent earlier heavy rain - rose, including at one point in the Huong (Perfume) River to 1.67 metres, 0.17 metres above its first warning level and to 1.82 metres in the Bo River. |
Officials, who had earlier advised fishing communities against putting to sea and alerted local flood committee, warned that the heavy rains and flooding would continue in several provinces. Eve was the ninth storm to threaten Vietnam this season and the 21st in the Western Pacific this year.
Thanh Hoa Rural Areas Hit
According to the meterological service, Thanh Hoa was hit hard with a one-day rainfall over the area from 100 to 150 mm, although in some locations unusually heavy rains fell on October 15 such as in Tinh Gia 571 mm, Thanh Hoa City 312 mm, Nong Cong 288, Nhu Xuan 270 mm, Hoang Hoa 243 mm and Thieu Hoa City 188 mm. The heavy rains caused three people to die, one person in Nong Cong District and two people in Tinh Gia District. Furthermore 208 houses were flooded, a number of river dykes damaged, 70 ha of freshwater fish farming was damaged, 24,762 ha of rice paddy was flooded and damaged. Also part of the Song Chu irrigation system, one reservoir and a small dam partly failed.
Nghe An Hit by Heavy Rains
Nghe An Province had an average rainfall from 100 to 300 mm between October 15 and 16. A number of districts received extraordinarily heavy rains such as Nam Dan 458 mm, Ben Thuy 489 mm, Vuc Mau 421 mm, Quynh Luu 388 mm, Cua Lo 397 mm, Yen Thuy 381 mm, Vinh City 373 mm, Do Luong Dam 344 mm. The rain caused flooding of 7, 600 ha sweet potatoes, of which 4,000 ha was completely wiped out, 4,400 ha corn was flooded with 1,500 ha completely wiped out and the Lam River dykes were smashed. The Do Luong Dam suffered some damage, particularly the intake structure and the automatic flood gate on the left side.
Tropical Storm Eve Ravages Central Provinces
Tropical storm Eve spread over the central province of Quang Binh on the morning of October 20. Heavy rain and winds reaching 7-8 on the Beaufort scale were reported in Ha Tinh and Quang Ngai provinces.
Up to 315 mm of rain fell in Quang Tri province. And serious damage was reported in coastal districts: nearly 2,000 houses were blown down, over 1,000 hectares of rice and subsidiary food crops were completely ruined along with 300 hectares of rubber, coffee and pepper trees, in the districts of Vinh Long, Gio Linh and Cam Lo. Eight bridges, 20 drainage canals and many roads and irrigation and water supply canals were destroyed and damaged.
In Quang Binh province, the 270-571 mm rains brought floods to the province from October 14 to 20. One person was reported missing, 4,050 houses were submerged in water, six houses completely collapsed while 52 others were unroofed, 86 vessels sank and many highway sections and inter-district roads were flooded.
Meanwhile, torrential rains in Ha Tinh province, measuring 600 mm in Ky Anh district, caused flooding and traffic jams on Highway 1A and other roads in the province. Rains also submerged hundreds of hectares of rice and subsidiary food crops in Ky Anh district.--
North and Central Provinces Suffered More Natural Calamities
Torrential rains, measuring from 100 mm to 400 mm, continued to plague the central coastal provinces from Thanh Hoa to Ninh Thuan from October 23-25, causing flooding in almost all rivers from Quang Binh to Ninh Thuan provinces. Nine people were reported dead by October 26 in Quang Binh province. The floods eroded and swept away nearly 80,000 cubic metres of dyke earth and broke three dams. Alarmingly, water levels in the Gianh and Kien Giang rivers were rising to the third level. The province's total losses were estimated at more than USD 714,290.
In Ninh Binh province, a 370 mm rainfall from October 24-26 flooded 10,620 ha of rice and subsidiary food crops and eroded many dyke sections.
Meanwhile, floods caused by heavy rains which hit Ky Anh district of Nghe An province between October 19-25 unroofed 100 houses and flooded 500 others. Also, 960 ha of rice and subsidiary food crops were flooded, and two children and 15 sewers were swept away.
In the central city of Hue, some areas were submerged in 2m of floodwaters which damaged 1,055 ha of vegetables and more than 1,500 ha of sugar-cane. About 75,200 households were affected by the flooding. The floods in Hue also damaged over 28 km of sea dyke, 40 km of river and canal dyke, and several sections of the national highways 1A and 14, and caused landslides along the banks of the Huong and Bo rivers. Total losses suffered by Hue were put at VND 8 billion (USD 570,000).
According to the General Department of Hydrometeorology, rainfall measured 192 mm in Nam Dinh province, 176 mm in Son Tay province and 64 mm in Hung Yen province.
The Mekong delta provinces reportedly received more than 100 mm of rainfall. Swollen rivers in the delta flooded more than 5,000 ha of sugar-cane in Long An province, 2,600 ha of rice crops in Tien Giang province, and hundreds of houses in Long An and Kien Giang provinces. In Kien Giang province, nine anchored fishing boats sank.