Quang Ninh, home to Ha Long Bay, bans marine vessels ahead of storm Prapiroon’s arrival

The Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention, Search, Rescue and Civil Defense in Hai Phong, home to Lan Ha Bay and Cat Ba Island, said waterway transportation activities, as well as entertainment activities at sea and on islands, would be suspended from Monday noon.

Its neighbor Quang Ninh, home to Ha Long Bay, also stopped allowing vessels to perform tourist activities and stay overnight at sea from the same time. Vessels are allowed to travel from islands to the mainland to take shelter, before 4 p.m.

Both localities are now calling for vessels to take refuge ahead of the incoming storm Prapiroon, and be ready to evacuate people in vulnerable areas.

Over the last 12 hours, storm Prapiroon’s strength continually changed. At 10 a.m. Monday, it lay centered at the Gulf of Tonkin, with a maximum wind speed of 102 kph. The storm is expected to move northwest, entering Quang Ninh’s Mong Cai on Tuesday noon, before heading towards China’s Guangxi and devolving into a tropical depression.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on Sunday requested 25 coastal localities from Quang Ninh to Quang Nam, as well as the midlands and mountains of the north, to prepare for the impacts of the storm and flood risks. Localities should evacuate people from dangerous areas, and guide vessels to safety, he said.

Prapiroon is the second storm to make an appearance in the South China Sea, which Vietnam calls the East Sea, this year. About 11-13 storms and tropical depressions are expected to appear in the South China Sea this year, with 5-7 affecting Vietnam, meteorological agencies said.