18 provinces and cities are warned to proactively respond to heavy rain and landslides

The National Steering Committee for Civil Defense has just issued a document requesting the People's Committees of provinces and cities in the Northern and North Central regions to proactively respond to heavy rain, floods, inundation, flash floods, landslides, tornadoes, lightning and hail.

According to the bulletin of the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting, from the afternoon of August 4 to August 5, the Northern and North Central regions will have moderate rain, heavy rain and thunderstorms. Common rainfall is from 40-80mm, locally over 130mm.

From the night of August 5 to the night of August 6, this area will continue to have rain with common rainfall from 60-120mm, locally over 170mm. It is noteworthy that rain is likely to appear with high intensity, exceeding 100mm within 3 hours. The total rainfall in the whole period, from the afternoon of August 4 to the night of August 6, is forecast to be common from 100-200mm, locally over 300mm.

In thunderstorms, there is a possibility of tornadoes, lightning, and hail. Heavy rain can also cause flooding in low-lying areas, urban areas, and industrial parks; flash floods on small rivers and streams and landslides in steep slopes.

Faced with dangerous weather developments, the National Steering Committee for Civil Defense requests localities to closely monitor warning bulletins and forecasts about heavy rain, floods, inundation, flash floods, landslides and extreme weather phenomena. Warning information must be promptly transferred to local authorities and people to proactively implement appropriate preventive measures.

The Steering Committee requests localities to deploy shock forces to inspect, review, and proactively organize the relocation and evacuation of people in high-risk areas such as riversides, streams, low-lying areas, with risk of deep flooding, flash floods, and landslides.

Along with that, local authorities need to organize to clear the flow, prepare on-site forces to support people and overcome consequences when situations occur.

Functional forces must organize guards, control and traffic guidance at underground, overflows, deeply flooded roads, fast-flowing water, areas where landslides have occurred or are at risk of landslides. The Steering Committee requests to resolutely prevent people and vehicles from passing through unsafe areas; and at the same time arrange forces, materials, and vehicles to handle incidents, maintain traffic on main roads and prevent flooding in urban areas and industrial parks.

Provinces and cities are also required to inspect, review and implement safety measures at tunnels, mineral exploitation furnaces and construction sites.

For reservoirs and downstream areas, the Steering Committee especially pays attention to small hydropower reservoirs, small irrigation reservoirs and critical reservoirs. Management units must arrange on-duty forces to operate, regulate reservoirs and be ready to handle possible situations.

Information and communication work must also be strengthened, especially the grassroots information system. Localities need to regularly update the situation, disseminate skills to respond to heavy rain, floods, inundation, flash floods, landslides, tornadoes, lightning and hail so that people can proactively prevent and minimize damage.