Heavy rains have been reported across Hanoi due to impact of Storm Matmo, triggering flood warnings for multiple streets and forcing many schools to witch to online learning.
Rainfall over the past six hours has reached 40–80mm, even 91mm as recorded at the Thuong Cat monitoring station and 116mm at the Soc Son station, said the National Centre for Hydrometeorological Forecasting.
Between 6am and 11am on October 7, downpour and gale are predicted to persist across Hanoi, with rainfall reaching 40–70mm or even more than 100mm in certain places.
Rain will ease quickly from the day’s late afternoon, the centre noted, warning a high risk of flooding for low-lying streets in inner areas.
Facing that fact, a large number of local schools issued urgent announcements on early October 7, asking students to stay home and learn online.
In an announcement released on October 6 afternoon, the municipal Department of Education and Training requested principals of schools to proactively make decisions about the forms of teaching and learning according to weather, infrastructure, and traffic conditions to ensure absolute safety for students.
Elsewhere in the North and the north-central province of Thanh Hoa, heavy rains have also occurred overnight and are likely to continue through October 7. The condition is expected to improve from October 8.
From 7pm on October 6 to 3am on October 7, rainfall in some areas in the northern region and Thanh Hoa exceeded 180mm, including the Hoa Thuong station in Thai Nguyen province 284.4mm and Muong Lat in Thanh Hoa 207.2mm.
Mountainous and midland regions will continue to experience downpour during October 7, with rainfall of 40–100mm, even more than 250mm. Meanwhile, lowland places are likely to witness 30–60mm in rainfall, even over 150mm in some areas, the forecasting centre noted.
Risks of flooding in low-lying, urban, and industrial zones, along with flash floods on rivers and landslides in mountainous areas, have been warned.
