HANOI (VNExpress/Vietnam News-ANN): Hailstorms and thunderstorms on Saturday evening injured five people and tore the roofs off roughly 350 houses across Hanoi and several northern provinces.
Dien Bien, Lai Chau, Lao Cai, Tuyen Quang, Phu Tho and Thai Nguyen provinces and Hanoi experienced multiple bouts of hail and strong winds from around 4:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Saturday.
Several areas recorded over 80 mm of rainfall between 7:00 p.m. that evening and 3:00 a.m. Sunday, such as Bac Ninh Province’s Bac Giang Ward (96 mm) and Hanoi’s Xuan Dinh Ward (90 mm).
Many localities, including Dien Bien’s Thanh An Commune and Hanoi’s Ung Hoa and My Duc communes, reported 4-5 cm hailstones that damaged homes and crops.
As of 6.30am on Sunday, five people in Thai Nguyen had been injured. Around 350 houses were unroofed, including 309 in Thai Nguyen, 40 in Dien Bien and one in Lao Cai, according to the Disaster and Dyke Management Authority.
Some 919 hectares of rice and crops were damaged, mainly in Dien Bien (767 ha) and Thai Nguyen (152 ha). Six schools in Thai Nguyen had their roofs blown off and 12 power poles were knocked down, causing localized power outages.
Local authorities are still assessing the extent of the damage.
The National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting said that a cold air mass will continue to compress and push a low-pressure trough southward on Sunday, bringing rain and scattered thunderstorms to the northern region, with some areas seeing heavy to very heavy downpours. Temperatures are expected to range between 23-26 C.
The cold air will affect mountainous areas and the northeastern region from noon and afternoon before expanding across the entire northeast and north-central regions, and parts of the northwest and central-central regions. Winds will shift to the northeast at 6-19 kilometers per hour, increasing to 12-28 kph in coastal areas.
From afternoon and evening, the northeast and north-central region will turn cooler, with lowest temperatures ranging below 20 C in mountainous areas and 20-24 C elsewhere. Hanoi is expected to see showers, moderate to heavy rain and scattered thunderstorms in the late afternoon and at night, with the lowest temperatures at 21-23 C.
From the evening into the night, the Gulf of Tonkin will see waves of 1.5-2.5 meters and northeast winds of 29-38 kph, occasionally strengthening to 39-49 kph with gusts of up to 61 kph.
From early Monday morning, the northeastern waters of the East Sea are expected to see waves of 2-3 meters and northeast winds of 39-49 kph, with gusts of 50-74 kph.
The hydro-meteorological agency warned that during Sunday day and night, northern Vietnam and Thanh Hoa Province could see rainfall of 20-40 mm, with localized totals exceeding 90 mm.
Areas from Nghe An Province to Hue city in the central region are forecast to see scattered showers and thunderstorms bringing rainfall of 10-30 mm and even above 50 mm in certain areas.
During thunderstorms, there is a high risk of whirlwinds, lightning, hail and strong gusts, which may damage homes, crops and infrastructure and raise the risk of flash floods and landslides in mountainous areas and flooding in low-lying areas. -- VNExpress/Vietnam News-ANN
