Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh was present at the Forward Command Center in Nghe An to directly direct the response to storm No. 5.
On the evening of August 24, Comrade Pham Minh Chinh - Politburo member, Prime Minister was present at the Government's Forward Command Headquarters located at the Military Region 4 Command, Nghe An province, directly commanding the response to storm No. 5.
Also attending the meeting were Party Central Committee member Tran Duc Thang - Acting Minister of Agriculture and Environment; Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Van Hien - Deputy Minister of National Defense and members of the Government's working delegation.
Attending the meeting were Lieutenant General Ha Tho Binh - Commander of the Military Region; Major General Doan Xuan Buong - Party Secretary, Political Commissar of the Military Region.
Leaders of Nghe An province include comrades: Nguyen Duc Trung - Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee; Le Hong Vinh - Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee.
The leaders of Ha Tinh province include comrades: Nguyen Duy Lam - Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee; Vo Trong Hai - Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee.
Put people's lives first and foremost
In his opening remarks at the meeting, the Prime Minister emphasized the spirit of "prevention is better than cure", requiring preparation at the highest level, especially in protecting people's lives.
Recalling the severe damage caused by natural disasters, especially to people in 2024 and the first months of 2025, the Prime Minister emphasized the consistent spirit in responding to storm No. 5 is to put people's safety first and foremost.
Therefore, in the face of the complicated developments of storm No. 5, the Prime Minister requested all levels, sectors and localities to proactively prepare from today, with the highest spirit of preparation; at the same time, carefully review and be ready to activate response plans.
The National Steering Committee for Civil Defense has established a forward command post at the Military Region 4 Command as the command center, closely coordinating with the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment and relevant forces. After the meeting, the Prime Minister will personally inspect preparations in a number of key areas.
At the meeting, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh listened to reports from leaders of the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment; leaders of Hue city and the provinces of Quang Tri, Ha Tinh, Nghe An, Thanh Hoa... on response to storm No. 5.
Reporting at the meeting, Acting Minister of Agriculture and Environment Tran Duc Thang said: Storm No. 5 has a wide circulation, moves very quickly, and has many favorable conditions to strengthen (sea surface temperature up to 30°C, energized by the Southwest monsoon); causing a combined impact, not only threatening the sea route and the delta region but also being very dangerous for the mountainous region.
At sea there are very strong winds, big waves and rising water; on land there are strong winds, especially heavy rain, risk of widespread flooding, flash floods and landslides.
In terms of danger level, storm No. 5 is assessed to be not much less dangerous than storm Yagi 2024 in terms of strong winds and at least equal to, or even stronger than, storm No. 10 - Doksuri in 2017, which caused severe damage in the Ha Tinh area. The natural disaster risk level is level 4 - very high.
Nghe An actively deploys response work to storm No. 5
On behalf of the leaders of Nghe An province, Provincial Party Secretary Nguyen Duc Trung reported to the Prime Minister on the province's response implementation.
Accordingly, as of 3:00 p.m. on August 24, the number of Nghe An province's boats anchored at the wharf was 2,915 with 13,210 workers. The number of fishing boats operating at sea was 3 with 30 workers in the Phu Yen sea area. All boats operating at sea have received notice of the location and direction of storm No. 5.
More than 1,061 large and small irrigation dams in the province are being operated by localities and units according to approved disaster prevention plans.
Nghe An has 23 hydroelectric reservoirs in operation, of which only Ban Ve and Hua Na reservoirs are year-round regulating reservoirs, the rest are day-night regulating reservoirs.
The hydroelectric reservoirs are currently operating normally according to the procedures approved by the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the People's Committee of Nghe An province. Currently, there are 5 hydroelectric reservoirs operating the sluice gates: Ban Ve, Ban Ang, Khe Bo, Chi Khe and Hua Na.
For agricultural production, localities are urgently implementing harvest with the motto "green house is better than old field".
In particular, ensuring the safety of people's lives is the top priority. First of all, the province has requested localities to urgently organize a review and implement plans to evacuate and relocate people in unsafe areas, especially in weak houses, low-lying residential areas, places at risk of coastal and riverside landslides, places affected by big waves, flooding due to rising sea levels, heavy rains, and at risk of flash floods and landslides.
Resolutely do not let people stay on boats, rafts, and aquaculture huts when the storm directly affects them; if necessary, take coercive measures to ensure people's safety; disseminate and instruct people on safety skills and risk reduction during floods; strictly prohibit people from collecting firewood, fishing, etc. on rivers, streams, and downstream of dams during floods; absolutely do not let people be subjective before, during, and after floods.
Following the direction of the Government, with the spirit of not being negligent and subjective, proactively responding to ensure the safety of people's lives and minimizing property damage, the Province has issued an official dispatch to direct, organize meetings with 130 communes and wards, deploy inspection teams in which the secretaries, chairmen and provincial leaders directly inspected and directed.
Regarding response work and ensuring people's safety, it is planned to evacuate people from 10 coastal communes with more than 10,000 households to safe locations such as schools, cultural houses, etc. At the same time, it is necessary to ensure essential conditions for necessities and food to serve people during the shelter period.
In particular, review vulnerable areas at risk of coastal landslides for evacuation, prioritizing the evacuation of the elderly and children. Ensure the safety of public infrastructure works, people's houses, ... mobilize forces to closely monitor the situation, coordinate with localities to participate in responding to the storm. For mountainous areas, continue to inspect and review areas along rivers and streams, areas at risk of flash floods, landslides.
"Worry about being expensive, be happy about being single" and "Better to be green at home than old in the field"
Concluding the meeting, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh mentioned the damage caused by natural disasters since the beginning of 2025. On behalf of the Party and State leaders, he expressed his deepest condolences to the relatives of those who died and went missing due to natural disasters, and to the irreparable losses, including the people of Nghe An province.
The Prime Minister requested localities to thoroughly grasp and seriously implement the directions of the Party, the State, and General Secretary To Lam in natural disaster prevention and care for people's lives. In particular, it is necessary to carefully review the situation of stabilizing people's lives; in places that are not yet stable, there must be immediate solutions to ensure housing, livelihoods and spirit for people. In particular, in localities that suffered heavy damage such as Dien Bien, Son La, Nghe An, it is necessary to pay utmost attention and care for people's lives.
As the nation prepares to celebrate the 80th anniversary of National Day on September 2, the Prime Minister emphasized the task of ensuring that people are happy, safe and secure. At the same time, it is necessary to continue to focus on overcoming the consequences of recent storms and floods, especially schools, health care facilities and infrastructure, and soon stabilize people's lives.
The Prime Minister noted that students must absolutely not lack schools, teachers, or clothing; and must prepare well for the opening of the new school year 2025-2026, including Nghe An province.
Regarding the response to storm No. 5, the Prime Minister emphasized: This is a very dangerous storm as it continues to increase in intensity, increasing by 5 levels after entering the East Sea and has the potential to become even stronger.
The Head of Government welcomed the quick action taken by localities, ministries and sectors. However, a number of people still have a subjective mentality. Therefore, the Prime Minister requested that the direction must be close, drastic, regular, decisive, resolute and persistent; the top goal is to protect people's lives, absolutely not allowing any human losses. At the same time, it is necessary to minimize property damage and promptly overcome the consequences of the storm and its circulation.
Therefore, preparations must be made early, far in advance of the storm. Plans must take into account ensuring human resources, food reserves, clean water, medicine, medical equipment, etc. "Worry about the high price, be happy about the low price" and "Better to have a green house than an old field", the Prime Minister emphasized the spirit of response.
On that basis, specifying the tasks and solutions for the next work, the Prime Minister requested strict implementation of Official Dispatch No. 70-CV/TW of the Secretariat and the Prime Minister's telegrams on responding to storm No. 5.
Ministries, branches, localities, and all levels, in the spirit of review, must be proactive in implementing their functions and powers; especially the Ministry of National Defense - the Standing Office of the National Civil Defense Steering Committee. The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment monitors the situation and coordinates with the media to inform, update developments, and warn about ways to prevent storm No. 5.
The Prime Minister requested to focus on ensuring the safety of ships and boats in a decisive and thorough manner. The authorities must continue to check and count the number of ships and vehicles in operation; organize guidance on how to avoid the storm. Any ship in the danger zone must immediately leave the area; ships in the safe zone must absolutely not move into the danger zone.
Mobilize forces to guide and support people to bring boats to safe anchorage, organize to tie them securely, minimize sinking and wrecking in shelter areas. At the same time, urgently review and proactively evacuate and relocate people from unsafe areas.
In particular, the head of the Government noted that it is necessary to closely direct the operation and ensure the safety of hydroelectric and irrigation dams to prevent overlapping floods, contributing to flood reduction downstream, avoiding unexpected passiveness; and deploying measures to protect production.
Continue to closely monitor, proactively coordinate, and consult international forecast information to forecast and provide the earliest, most complete, and most accurate information on the developments of storm No. 5 and floods to authorities and people to proactively deploy timely and effective response work.
The Prime Minister also requested to proactively arrange forces and means, especially rescue and relief vehicles, to be ready to respond when situations arise. Provinces must establish command centers and maintain 24/7 duty to promptly command and direct; at the same time, maximize the "4 on-site" motto, ready to support each other when needed.
Organize to tie down houses, prepare shock troops and reserve forces to respond. In areas at risk of being cut off, consider using helicopters to access, transport goods and provide emergency relief.
According to the Nghe An Province Hydrometeorological Station, at 4:00 p.m. on August 24, the center of storm No. 5 was at approximately 17.6 degrees North latitude; 109.9 degrees East longitude, approximately 470 km from the mainland of Nghe An province and 450 km from Ha Tinh province to the East Southeast. The strongest wind near the center of the storm was at level 13-14 (134-166 km/h), gusting to level 16.
The storm is moving west at about 20 km/h and is forecast to strengthen before approaching land.
It is forecasted that tomorrow evening (August 25), the storm will make landfall in the provinces from Thanh Hoa to Quang Tri. The disaster risk level has been raised to level 4 (very high) in coastal areas from Thanh Hoa to Quang Tri and on the mainland of these provinces when the storm makes landfall.
From the afternoon and night of August 24, the sea area of Nghe An province (including Hon Ngu island) will have winds gradually increasing to level 7-9, then increasing to level 10-11, the area near the storm center will have strong winds of level 12-14, gusting to level 16. Waves will be 5-7m high, near the storm center waves will be 8-10m high. The sea will be very rough.
Coastal areas of Nghe An province need to be on guard against storm surges of 0.5-1.5m high. There is a high risk of flooding in low-lying coastal areas and river mouths due to big waves and surges in the afternoon and evening of August 25.
The meteorological agency warns that the weather at sea and in coastal areas during the storm is extremely dangerous and unsafe for any means of transport or construction. Ships, boats, cages, and aquaculture areas are at high risk of capsizing, destruction, and flooding.
From the night of August 24, on the mainland of Nghe An province, the wind will gradually increase to level 8-10, the area near the storm's eye may be level 11-13, gusting to level 14-15.
From the night of August 24 to the end of August 26, Nghe An province is likely to experience heavy to very heavy rain. Total rainfall is generally from 200-400mm, locally over 600mm. Warning of the risk of very heavy rain (over 150-200mm in 3 hours), which can cause flash floods, landslides in mountainous areas and deep flooding in urban areas and low-lying areas.
