Central, southern localities brace for Typhoon Usagi

• Lam Dong province braces for fresh typhoon
• Powerful typhoon bears down on flood-battered Japan
• Typhoon Mangkhut downgraded to tropical depression

The central coastal province of Khanh Hoa has evacuated more than 2,840 households with over 12,000 people to safer places, and encouraged 2,210 farmers at aquaculture breeding cages at sea to move inland. Over 340 fishing boats have also been instructed to seek shelters. 

On November 24, authorities of the central coastal province of Phu Yen also encouraged local residents to move to safe places. 

Vo Ngoc Kha, Chairman of the Tuy Hoa city People’s Committee, said Long Thuy village in An Phu commune, the Bach Dang residential area in ward 6, Ro hamlet in Phu Dong ward and Binh Ngoc commune in the city would be affected by flood tides and torrential rains. 

Soldiers, policemen and militiamen in the locality are working round the clock to cope with the storm, said the official. 

Other localities such as Binh Thuan and Long An provinces have also completed preparations for the storm, the ninth to hit the East Sea for far this year. 

Meanwhile, the steering board for disaster prevention, and search and rescue of Ho Chi Minh City has instructed all ferries in the locality to suspend operation as from 7pm on November 24 in anticipation of the storm. 

The municipal Health Department has also asked all hospitals in the city to stand ready for any emergency. 

As of November 24 morning, about 1,000 offshore fishing boats in the Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang had been asked to sail out of dangerous areas and keep contact with inland competent agencies.

At 4:00 am on November 23, the typhoon’s centre was at 10.9 degrees north latitude and 113.8 degrees east longitude, about 450 km east of the coast of the south central and southern provinces from Ninh Thuan to Ba Ria – Vung Tau. The storm's strongest winds were at a speed of 60 – 75 km per hour, according to the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting.

In the next 24 hours, it is forecast to move west at 10 - 15 km per hour and may gain more strength. The storm with sustained wind speeds at 75 – 100 km per hour will be about 230 km east of the coast of provinces from Ninh Thuan to Ba Ria – Vung Tau.

At 4:00 am of November 25, the storm will continue moving west at 10 – 15 km per hour and make landfall in the area between coastal provinces in south central and east southern regions. It is then weakened to a tropical depression, the centre said.

The typhoon will cause torrential rains for south-central and south-east provinces, it added. Localities stretching from Thua Thien – Hue to Binh Thuan provinces and in the southern Central Highlands region might suffer downpour with rainfall up to 300-500mm.