La Nina, with a greater possibility of occurring in the remaining months of this year, may cause the risk of heavy rains, storms and floods, especially in the central region, according to Head of the Weather Forecast Department under the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting (NCHF) Nguyen Van Huong.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh issued an official dispatch on August 4, demanding proactive moves to prevent, control, and address natural disaster consequences in the coming time.
The National Centre for Hydro-meteorological Forecasting has forecast that due to La Nina, there will be an even greater risk of heavy rainfall, storms and floods in the last months of this year, particularly in the central region.
La Nina is set to affect Thailand from July until January 2025 and bring more rain than usual to the northern and north-eastern regions until October, according to the weather forecast by the Meteorological Department.
Diversifying communications methods to enhance public awareness of natural disaster prevention and control, and ensuring accurate and timely forecast are among solutions to minimise damage caused by natural disasters, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang said while chairing a national conference on natural disaster prevention and control, search and rescue in 2024 held in Hanoi on May 10.
After three years of the La Nina weather pattern which is the other phase of ENSO, the El Nino phenomenon is likely to return in Vietnam in late May or early June, with a probability of up to 80%, and this phenomenon may last into early 2024, according to Nguyen Van Huong, head of the Weather Forecasting Department, National Centre for Hydro-meteorological Forecasting (NCHMF).
The southern region might be hit by powerful storms at the end of this year, a conference on natural disaster prevention and control heard in Ho Chi Minh City late last week.
Cold waves may come early, and the average temperature in winter this year is likely to be lower than that last year, according to the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting.
The Mekong River Commission (MRC) said on April 30 that water levels along the vast majority of the lower Mekong basin have now returned to normal long-term averages but are still lower than those during the 2018 and 2019 dry season.
Experts have predicted that the southern region will see reduced drought and salinity and more out-of-season rain in the dry season of 2017, as it is an area affected by the neutral phase which is a transit stage between El Nino and La Nina.
The Philippine government is implementing a comprehensive programme to lessen the impact of La Nina, stated Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma on June 1.
