This afternoon, November 23, the Department of Hydrometeorology, Ministry of Agriculture and Environment provided comments on the historic flood in the South Central region.
Big flood until late, traditional flood rules are changing
Accordingly, the flood in the South Central region from November 16 to 22, 2025 is considered an extreme phenomenon, surpassing historical records. Rainfall at many stations such as Son Hoa (Dak Lak) 601.2 mm or Quy Nhon (Gia Lai) 380.6 mm exceeded previously recorded historical records, while some other stations such as Son Thanh Tay, Son Thanh Dong, Hoa My Tay, Song Hinh recorded up to 1,000-1,200 mm in just a few days.
According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), these are rare events and it is almost impossible to accurately predict the quantity.
In addition, the accumulated rainfall from October to mid-November 2025 has reached a very high level, 120 - 200% higher than the average of many years, causing the land to be saturated. When entering the main rains, only need an additional 300 - 500 mm of rain to form a major flood.
According to statistics over the past 30 years, major floods in the South Central region often occurred before November 15. However, the major flood in 2025 will appear later than this rule. This unusual major flood event is a clear demonstration that the traditional flood rules are changing, reflecting an increasingly extreme and unpredictable weather trend due to the impact of climate change leading to changes in circulation, storms and tropical depressions.
More frequent and severe natural disasters have created an urgent need to improve the capacity to forecast, manage risks and prevent natural disasters in this area.
From November 16 to November 22, major floods, especially major ones and historic floods appeared on many rivers from Quang Tri to Khanh Hoa and Lam Dong. At some stations on the Ky Lo River, downstream of the Ba River (in Dak Lak), Dinh Ninh Hoa River (Khanh Hoa), and Da Nhim River (Lam Dong), floods exceeding historical levels have been recorded in the past 30 - 40 years. The flood peak on the Ba River at Phu Lam station during this flood has a repeat cycle estimated at about 50 years (rarely occurring frequency).
"The special feature of this flood is that many large rivers have surpassed historical floods: the Ky Lo River (in Dak Lak) surpassed the 2009 record, the Ba River (in Dak Lak) surpassed 1993, the Dinh Ninh Hoa River (in Khanh Hoa) surpassed 1986. The phenomenon of floods breaking records in 3 - 5 basins at the same time is extremely rare, almost uncommon in more than 50 years of monitoring, and not within the "commonly calculated flood level". This shows that just a more accurate forecast is still not enough to prevent natural disasters beyond history," the report emphasized.
According to the Department of Hydrometeorology, the historic flood from November 16 to 22, 2025 in the South Central region once again shows the vulnerability of our country to extreme weather phenomena, especially rain and floods. Since the beginning of the year, after the North, North Central and Central Central regions, the South Central regions have become the "flood center", showing the severity of natural disasters in this region.
The combination of many extreme weather patterns causes historic floods
Regarding the cause of the flood from November 15 to 21, 2025, according to the Department of Hydrometeorology, it is due to the results of a combination of many extreme weather patterns. Above, disturbances in the East wind zone at an altitude of 1,500-5000m are active, combined with very strong cold air, especially from the night of November 17, 2025, creating a humid convergence area from the low to the high.
The water from the East Sea is continuously transported to the mainland of the Central and Central Highlands, while the Truong Son terrain plays a "wind-breaking" role, stimulating strong development convection and maintaining prolonged rain.Rainfall is generally from 800 - 700 mm in many places, far exceeding the ability to drain naturally.
In addition to weather factors, the terrain and hydrological characteristics of the Central region also increase the risk of major floods.Short river basins with large slopes cause rainwater to rapidly concentrate downstream, leading to flash floods, flash floods and floods rising rapidly in just a few hours, combined with high tides, causing water drainage to slow down.
In addition, climate change has made extreme rainfall stronger and more unpredictable, while increasing the frequency of major floods in the past 10 - 15 years, with many stations recording rainfall exceeding the historical level of 1000 - 700 mm/ period.
Previously, on November 17, 2025, the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting upgraded the flood warning bulletin to flood warning bulletins of special significance, emergency floods, flood warnings on rivers for the provinces in the above area; on November 20, the disaster warning level for the eastern area of Dak Lak was upgraded to level 4 because this area is facing a very high risk of a complex of multiple natural disasters (cold, flash floods and landslides), higher than the threshold prescribed in Decision No. 18/2021/QD-TTg.
The meteorological agency forecasts that from November 23 to November 25, in Hue, Da Nang and eastern Gia Lai, there will be moderate rain, heavy rain with common rainfall from 50-110mm, some places over 220mm. From the afternoon and night of November 25, heavy rain will gradually decrease.
Millions of arms turn to compatriots affected by storms and floods
Consecutive storms and floods caused by storms have caused many deaths, missing people, and injuries; many houses and production and business establishments have had their roofs blown off and suffered heavy damage. People across the Central and Northern mountainous provinces are struggling day and night to cope with floods and heavy losses in human lives and property that cannot be mentioned...
"A piece of food when hungry is worth a package when full", with the spirit of mutual love that has always been a beautiful image of the Vietnamese people, the Golden Heart Social Charity Fund calls on domestic and foreign philanthropists to join hands to share with people affected by floods to have food, clothing, shelter, students have books to go to school...
The Golden Heart Social Charity Fund would like to sincerely thank the precious feelings of agencies, businesses, and domestic and foreign philanthropists.
Please send any help to: Golden Heart Social Society Fund, No. 51 Hang Bo, Hoan Kiem, Hanoi. Phone: 024.39232756. Account number (STK): 113000000758 at Vietinbank Hoan Kiem Branch, Hanoi. STK: 0021000303088 - at Vietcombank - Hanoi Branch, STK: 12410001122556 - at BIDV - Hoan Kiem Branch. Or scan the following QR code:
