Vietnam plans mass evacuations amid Conson’s unpredictable path

As of 1pm on September 9, the storm was located 540 kilometres to the east-southeast of the Hoang Sa (Paracel) Islands, with maximum wind speeds of 90 kilometres per hour near its centre and gusts of up to 115 kilometres per hour.

Coastal and Red River Delta provinces are planning to evacuate more than 231,000 people in coastal areas and another 237,000 in riverside areas and communities unprotected by dykes.

Northern mountainous provinces are also planning the evacuation of 154,000 residents from areas at high risks of flash floods and landslides, and another 143,000 in riverside areas.

According to NCHMF, the national weather agency, Conson is interacting with another typhoon called Chanthu in the Pacific, making it very difficult to predict its path.

According to NCHMF Deputy Director Hoang Phuc Lam, typhoon warning agencies in the world are giving different models for the movement of Conson, with the US predicting the system might hit the central city of Da Nang.

In the Vietnamese weather agency’s forecast, tropical storm Conson will enter the north-central region.

According to Colonel Nguyen Dinh Hung of the Border Guard Command, about 500 boats belonging to Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Quang Ngai and Binh Dinh fishermen still remain on the sea, mostly concentrated in the Hoang Sa (Paracel) area, where the storm is projected to traverse.

The border guard will send up flares to call on boats to come ashore and quickly move out of danger zones.

Director of General Department for Natural Disaster Prevention Tran Quang Hoai asked the border guard and local authorities to proactively contact fishing boats to inform them of the incoming storm.

He also called for prompt action to evacuate people from dangerous regions on the mainland.