Vietnam – Storm ‘Son Tinh’ Causes Deadly Floods and Landslides

Reports from Vietnam say that 5 people have been killed and 13 are missing after Tropical Cyclone Son Tinh swept over the north of the country, bringing heavy rain, floods and landslides.

Son Tinh made landfall close to Dien Thai city (Ha Tinh province) on 18 July with maximum sustained winds of 83 km/h and continued moving northwest over Nigh An province (northern Vietnam), weakening.

The GPM core observatory satellite passed over the Gulf of Tonkin on July 17, 2018 at 6:49 p.m. EDT (2249 UTC). GPM showed the locations of heavy rainfall in storms in the western Gulf Of Tonkin where precipitation was dropping at a rate of well over 97 mm (3.8 inches) per hour. Storm tops in the most powerful storms were found by DPR to reach heights of about 16 km (9.9 miles). Credit: NASA/JAXA, Hal Pierce

The heaviest of the rain fell between 18 and 19 July. Vietnam’s Disaster Management Authority reported that 292 mm of rain fell in 24 hours in Tien Yen (Quang Ninh) and 231 mm in Bat Mot (Thanh Hoa).

Flooding has affected the provinces of Yen Bai, Nam Dinh, Ninh Binh, Hoa Binh, Thanh Hoa, Nghe An and Ha Tinh. Three fatalities were reported in Yen Bai and two in Thanh Hoa.

The storm has destroyed 21 houses and flooded 827 others, forcing 365 households to evacuate. Farming has also been badly affected, with almost 4,000 livestock killed and wide areas of farmland, including paddy fields and fish ponds damaged.