Vietnam’s domestic airlines have announced to cancel numerous flights departing and arriving at the country’s northern and central airports on Friday due to Typhoon Dianmu, reports BSS.
Dianmu, the third hitting Vietnam so far this year, is forecast to make landfall on the country’s northern region from Hai Phong City to Ninh Binh province at around 10 a.m. local time on Friday, with the strongest gales at the speed of 75-100 km per hour, according to the National Centre of Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting.
Following such forecast, the national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines canceled ten flights departing and arriving at northern Hai Phong City’s Cat Bi airport, and central Thanh Hoa province’s Tho Xuan airport on Friday.Earlier on Thursday, due to bad weather, Vietnam Airlines canceled eight flights.
VietJet Air, a local budget carrier, also announced to cancel many flights due to Typhoon Dianmu on Thursday. On Friday, all of its flights arriving or departing at Cat Bi airport will have directions changed to capital Ha Noi’s Noi Bai airport.
After making landfall, Typhoon Dianmu will continue affecting provinces in Vietnam’s northeastern and north-central regions, said the forecasting center, adding that widespread downpours will be recorded across the northern and northern central regions on Saturday. A total rainfall of 200-300 millimeters, even 400 millimeters in some areas, are expected.
High risk of flash floods and landslides is also warned in Vietnam’s mountainous areas, along with flooding in lowland provinces.
In a related move, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc Thursday ordered all meetings at both central and local levels be halted from Friday to focus on dealing with the typhoon to protect people’s lives and assets, Vietnam’s state-run news agency VNA reported.
