In the early days of the rainy and stormy season, Ms. Nguyen Thi Mai (Ba Dinh District, Hanoi) always reminds her children to be careful when going to school or work. The road from her child's house to school has many large, spreading ancient trees.
"Looking up, I saw dry branches and rotten branches hanging on my head and worried. I just hope there are no sudden strong winds" - Ms. Mai shared.
Not only Ms. Mai's family, many Hanoians are worried every year when entering the rainy and stormy season. The worry about trees falling, falling on houses and vehicles, even endangering the lives of road users, is always present.
There are no official statistics yet, but every year there are many cases of fallen trees falling on vehicles and road users, causing property damage, even human damage.
Hanoi has more than 1.6 million urban trees, of which many are old, have dry roots or are developing unbalancely, and are prone to falling in strong winds. On the other hand, the phenomenon of rapid urbanization, the road surface being concreted, limits the space for developing root systems, increasing the risk of trees being uprooted during storms.
According to the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting, this year, Hanoi and the northern provinces will enter the rainy and stormy season earlier than usual. In May alone, many thunderstorms with strong gusts of wind caused dozens of trees to fall on the streets.
According to the reporter, in the past, some main streets of Hanoi have been pruning trees before the rainy and stormy season. However, many small streets and residential areas still have many ancient trees that have not been thoroughly inspected.
Hanoi Green Tree Park One Member Co., Ltd. informed that the unit is increasing its forces to speed up the pruning and bracing of trees on the streets.
"However, the workload is very large, it is impossible to do it simultaneously in a short time" - said the company representative.
Since the beginning of May, workers of Hanoi Green Tree Park One Member Co., Ltd. have been actively pruning and lowering the height of trees in Hanoi to ensure the safety of people before the upcoming storm season. It is expected that the unit will complete the pruning and height reduction of trees in the second quarter of 2025.
In addition, many experts and people recommend that the city should have a roadmap for a general inspection of all urban trees, especially those with a long life and are prone to falling. At the same time, the planning and selection of plant varieties in urban areas also needs to be reviewed, avoiding planting species of trees at high risk of falling such as Sofa, Muong, and royal poinciana in crowded places.
The National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting also informed that from June 10, the tropical depression will be about 360km east-southeast of Hoang Sa archipelago. On June 12, the tropical depression is likely to strengthen into storm No. 1, moving in a West-Northwest direction at a speed of 10-15km/h. There is a high possibility of storms in the Northern region.
To prevent accidents caused by fallen trees, people need to be careful when going out during storms. The authorities, especially Hanoi Green Park One Member Co., Ltd., must also speed up the pruning process to minimize possible damage.
