Central Vietnam prepares for Typhoon Rai

Da Nang and provinces of Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Binh Dinh, Phu Yen, Khanh Hoa on Friday requested ships to stay anchored as Typhoon Rai is developing complicatedly in the East Sea. Vessels at sea have been ordered to get back to shore and seek shelter.

Owners of nearshore fish farms have been ordered to evacuate to safety before 6 p.m. Friday. People living in coastal areas have been brought to safer places.

Quang Ngai has suspended boat service to its Ly Son Island. Residents on the island have been told to store food for a few days.

Dung Quat Economic Zone and the Quang Ngai VSIP Industrial Zone in the province have been requested to take needed measures to protect its facilities from the storm, especially the Dung Quat Oil Refinery and the factory of Hoa Phat Dung Quat Steel JSC.

Tran Huu The, chairman of Phu Yen Province, has demanded reinforcement of embankments, reservoirs for hydropower plants, irrigation, and construction works.

Typhoon Rai has weakened after slamming into southern and central parts of the Philippines, with authorities on Friday reporting one death so far, according to Reuters.

It had intensified to a Category 5 storm, the highest classification with maximum sustained winds of at least 156 miles per hour (mph), before making landfall in the southern Philippines on Thursday.

Vietnam’s National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting said the storm will enter the East Sea Friday evening, making the ninth storm to enter the East Sea so far this year.

By 7 a.m. on Saturday, the eye of the storm will be 200 km east of the Philippines’ Southwest Cay Island, with its strongest wind speed predicted at 165kph (102mph).

It will then move in the west-northwest direction and by 7 a.m. Sunday, 280 km away from Vietnam’s central coast with the strongest wind speed expected at 150 kph.