2017 - a year of record natural disasters

Hanoi is hot at 42 degrees Celsius; flash floods in Yen Bai and Son La; landslides in Hoa Binh and frequent storms are the weather characteristics this year.

El Nino, which lasted from late 2014 to early 2017, is still affecting the North, causing a warm winter-spring season in 2017 and a record-breaking hot summer. Since mid-year, La Nina has caused widespread flooding, storms and tropical depressions to appear more frequently..

Hanoi hottest in 46 years

In 2017, there were 15 widespread heat waves. From June 1 to 6, two-thirds of the country from Quang Ninh to Phu Yen suffered from a particularly severe heat wave, with temperatures exceeding historical values. On June 3-4, more than 30 meteorological stations in the North simultaneously recorded temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius..

In early June, Hanoi residents suffered a record heat wave. Photo: Ngoc Thanh.

Hanoi is the epicenter of the heat when the monitoring stations of Ba Vi and Hoai Duc are approximately 41 degrees Celsius; Lang and Son Tay are above 41 degrees Celsius; Ha Dong alone is 42 degrees Celsius.Since monitoring data was available, Ha Dong was hottest in the summer of 2008 with 39.8 degrees Celsius. Lang station recorded the highest temperature of 40.4 in the summer of 1971.

OutsideHanoi and several other stations in the Northeast also surpassed previous records, such as Bac Giang on June 2 reaching 39.7 degrees (in 1994 it was 38.7) and Lang Son equivalent to 2012 at 38.4 degrees Celsius.

Prolonged rain, flash floods, landslides in northern mountainous areas

Due to the impact of weak La Nina, there was more rain in the North, causing many floods. From June to October, the region experienced 13 floods with the peak at alert level 2-3. Flash floods, landslides and landslides occurred in many mountainous provinces.

In which, the battleFlash floods on the morning of August 3 at Nam Pam stream (Muong La, Son La) killed 15 people and displaced about one million cubic meters of rock and soil from their original location. It is estimated that moving such a huge volume of soil would require 5 million cubic meters of water.

Also on August 3,Flash floods have flattened a densely populated residential area in Mu Cang Chai town (Yen Bai).8 dead, 6 missing,swept away and tore away 40 houses, destroyed Vo Thi Sau Primary and Secondary School in the center of the district.n.

Flash flood in Mu Cang Chai on August 3.

Two months later, on October 9-12, due to the influence of low pressure and cold air, the northern mountainous provinces again experiencedfloodparticularly large. In Yen Bai, flash floods in Tram Tau district left 9 people dead and missing; Ngoi Thia bridge (Nghia Lo town) collapsed, sweeping away a reporter.Dinh Huu Duand 7 others. In Son La, flash floods in Phu Yen and Van Ho killed 6 people and left 2 missing..

In the early morning of October 12, half of a mountain in Khanh hamlet, Phu Cuong commune (Tan Lac, Hoa Binh) collapsed, burying 18 people who were sleeping. The authorities had to mobilize 300 people to search and it took 6 days to find all the victims' bodies.

"There has never been a landslide in history that caused tens of thousands of cubic meters of rock and soil to collapse and then be carried far away, burying many houses," Major General Truong Duc Nghia, Chief of Office of the National Committee for Search and Rescue, said about the landslide in Khanh hamlet..

Heavy rains caused the water level in Hoa Binh Hydropower Reservoir to reach nearly 16,000 m3/s at noon on October 11, forcing the plant to open 8 bottom spillway gates to ensure the safety of the reservoir and the large downstream area including the capital Hanoi. This is the first time in history that Hoa Binh Reservoir has opened 8 out of 12 bottom spillway gates.

Central region floods touch and exceed historical values

Since June, the rivers in the Central region and the Central Highlands have experienced 8 floods. Of these, there were 2 large-scale floods in early September and October, with flood peaks on most rivers at alert levels 2-3. Particularly, rivers in Thanh Hoa and from Thua Thien HueEspecially large floods occurred in Quang Ngai.

The flood peak on the Buoi River at Kim Tan (Thanh Hoa) is approximately equal to the historical flood level of 2007; the downstream of the Ma River at Giang (Thanh Hoa) is near the flood level of 1980; the Bo River at Phu Oc is equivalent to the flood level of 1999; the Thu Bon River at Cau Lau is near the flood level of 2007, and in Hoi An is approximately equal to the water level of 2007.

Rising floods have left millions of people living in inundated conditions, with many residential areas in Thua Thien Hue, Quang Nam, and Quang Ngai isolated due to 2-4 meter deep water. Hoi An City (Quang Nam), where many activities of the APEC Summit Week (November 6-11) took place, was flooded to a depth of more than 3 meters. Fortunately, the flood receded before the event.

People and tourists in Hoi An row boats to pack up and escape the flood.

Strongest storm in 30 years hits South Central Vietnam, causing $1 billion in damage

On November 4, storm No. 12 Damrey made landfall in Phu Yen - Khanh Hoa with winds of 133 km/h (level 12). This is the strongest storm to hit the South Central Coast since 1988, so many people have forgotten their prevention skills.

After 9 hours of raging, the storm killed 44 people and damaged 114,000 houses in Khanh Hoa. Roads and railways were paralyzed due to landslides. At Quy Nhon port (Binh Dinh), 10 cargo ships sank and ran aground, many crew members died and went missing.

The post-storm circulation combined with cold air caused very heavy rain from Thua Thien Hue to Binh Thuan and the Central Highlands. More than 4.3 million people were affected, 107 people died and 16 people were missing, 342 people were injured, 3,500 houses were destroyed, more than 300,000 houses were damaged..

Total damage caused by storm Damrey was over 22,680 billion VND (equivalent to 1 billion USD).

A family's house in Ninh Hoa town (Khanh Hoa) collapsed due to storm Damrey. Photo: Phuoc Tuan.

The most storms ever

In 2017, there were 16 storms and 4 depressions operating in the East Sea, the highest number ever in terms of the number of storms. Previously in 2013, due to the impact of La Nina, the East Sea had 19 storms and depressions, which was considered a record.

Seven storms directly affected Vietnam, of which storm No. 10 Doksuri made landfall in Ha Tinh - Quang Binh with winds of level 11-12, gusts of level 14-15. After 6 hours of raging, the storm killed 8 people, nearly 200,000 houses had their roofs blown off, damaged, or collapsed; 1.3 million households lost power, and material damage was over 11,000 billion VND.

In the last days of the year, people in the South are struggling to cope with storm Tembin - a storm with a similar path and intensity when it was in the Truong Sa archipelago, even stronger than Linda - the disaster that killed and left missing nearly 3,000 people in the South 20 years ago. Fortunately, on the morning of December 26, when it approached Ca Mau Cape, the storm weakened.

According to the Central Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control, storms and floods in 2017 killed 325 people, left 61 missing, and injured more than 600. Over 8,000 houses collapsed, and more than 350,000 others were damaged. Traffic, irrigation, telecommunications, and electricity systems were severely damaged.

Total material damage was approximately VND60 trillion (US$2.6 billion), the highest in the past five years.

According to VNE