Nearly 146,900 households with over 571,700 people in six provinces of Vietnam's central region will be evacuated by Tuesday against Typhoon Molave, according to the Central Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control on Tuesday.
Accordingly, 571,746 people in the provinces of Thua Thien Hue, Da Nang, Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Binh Dinh and Phu Yen will be evacuated by 7:00 p.m. local time Tuesday.
Local authorities of the provinces also decided to allow students off from school to ensure safety.
It is forecast that the coastal areas from Da Nang city down to Binh Dinh province will witness strong winds at the speed of up to 133 km per hour and gusts up to 183 km per hour on Wednesday, according to the committee.
There is a high risk of flash floods and landslides in mountainous, lowland and urban areas in several provinces in central and central highlands regions, said the committee.
Molave, the ninth typhoon to hit Vietnam this year, will also bring heavy rains with up to 400 mm falling in areas from Thua Thien Hue down to Phu Yen from Tuesday night to Thursday, and up to 700 mm falling in Ha Tinh and part of Nghe An from Wednesday to Saturday.
Typhoon Molave is forecast to be as strong as Typhoon Damrey in 2017, which left 123 people dead or missing and caused economic losses of over 22 trillion Vietnamese dong (956.5 million U.S. dollars), according to the committee.
Landslides, floods and other natural disasters have left 150 people dead or missing in Vietnam's central and central highlands regions since early October, according to the data from the committee on Tuesday.