Midsummer Floods: Extreme Weather Becomes an Existential Threat!

(Baohatinh.vn) - According to experts, the recent flood in Ha Tinh is a sign of dangerous extreme weather, breaking many general weather rules.

Unusual flood

Heavy rain from the night of May 24 to the morning of May 25 caused many areas in Cam Due commune (Cam Xuyen) to be submerged in floodwater.

Four days after the flood, people in the villages of Tan Due, Quang Trung (in Cam Due commune) and My Phu, My Dong, My Lam, My Ha (in Cam My commune) of Cam Xuyen district are still in shock. In the blink of an eye, their property and rice were swept away by the raging water.

Mr. Nguyen Van Duong - Chairman of Cam My Commune People's Committee said: "Usually, floods do not appear until the end of August or the beginning of September, but this year the floods came too early. Unusual natural disasters left people unable to react. Six villages affected by flash floods in Cam Due and Cam My communes are all located close to the slopes of Vang Vang mountain. During the process of planting forests, people dug trenches to mark boundaries, accidentally creating a channel to bring water from upstream. Meanwhile, the rain with a flow of 430 mm (night of May 24 to morning of May 25) combined with the large flow of water pouring from Khe Mai was like a "water bomb" covering the villages."

After the flood, Cam Xuyen district had 690 hectares of rice submerged, more than 1,800 tons of rice soaked in water, more than 175 hectares of crops damaged, more than 11,000 livestock and poultry swept away...

Unusual natural disasters leave people unable to react.

The rain on the night of May 24 to the morning of May 25 also recorded many areas in the province with "huge" rainfall: Khe Xai - Thach Xuan lake (Thach Ha) 379.8 mm; Cam Xuyen town 381 mm; Ky Phong commune (Ky Anh district) 382 mm; Ky Van commune (Ky Anh district) 474 mm; Ke Go lake 525 mm, Thuong Song Tri lake up to 601.8 mm...

Mr. Bui Truong Giang - an officer of the Standing Office of the Provincial Steering Committee for Disaster Prevention and Control said: "According to data from automatic rain gauge stations, the rainfall from 1pm on May 24 to 12pm on May 25 ranged from 333 - 420mm, with some areas reaching 601.8mm, far exceeding the forecast. Although this is not the heaviest rainfall in Ha Tinh , it is the heaviest in May in decades, very extreme and rare. The floods occurred at night, right at the time of the spring rice harvest, causing huge losses in production."

The flood came right at the time when the spring rice harvest was at its peak, so the damage was quite large.

According to weather experts, the recent unusual floods broke many annual weather rules. The floods came earlier, the rainfall in the first month of the season was higher than the threshold, the rainfall distribution was uneven, some places had heavy rain, some places had very little rain, a rare phenomenon in the natural disaster monitoring system.

Compared to the same period 8 years ago, on May 24-26, 2017, Ha Tinh also experienced an unseasonal rainstorm, the area with the highest rainfall was only 126 mm (Son Kim), 112.6 mm (Huong Son), the remaining areas ranged from 80 - 94 mm. This time, the area with the highest rainfall was up to more than 601.8 mm, 4.77 times higher than the area with the highest rainfall in 2017. This is considered the record rainstorm in May.

Rain is unevenly distributed, appearing from very small wind convergence zones, creating vortexes that cause rain in small areas but with large flow and intensity, showing that extreme weather factors are increasingly dangerous and unpredictable.

According to statistics, the floods on May 24 and 25 caused more than 1,000 houses across the province to be flooded, 2,300 hectares of unharvested rice to be submerged in water, more than 2,000 tons of paddy to be wet, 400 hectares of other crops to be affected, and more than 12,000 livestock and poultry to be swept away...

Deep solutions needed to respond to climate change

Considering the causes of serious damage after the recent flood, it can be seen that extreme weather and the frightening developments of climate change are becoming increasingly evident. With heavy, continuous rainfall occurring in a very short period of time, water storage areas are almost unable to keep up. The water level in irrigation works rises rapidly, forcing the need to regulate the discharge sluices, creating a large flow of water downstream, causing flooding.

People in Cam Xuyen flood area clean up the rubble after the flood passed.

Meanwhile, people's psychology is still subjective, not thinking that heavy rain and floods will come in early May, so the response work is passive, causing great damage. In particular, the planning and forecasting work is not accurate, not anticipating the development of extreme weather, so they are not proactive in "welcoming" the flood. Mr. Nguyen Van Thanh - Lien Vinh village, Thach Dai commune (Ha Tinh city) said: "Before that, I also heard the radio report that there was rain, my family had sped up the spring rice harvest. However, I did not think it would be heavy rain, so I just covered it roughly in the yard. When the water rose, the transportation and stacking work encountered many difficulties, some rice was also wet".

According to the Ha Tinh Hydrometeorological Station, in 2025, the worrying thing that the professional sector has continuously warned about is unseasonal rain and heavy floods. Rainfall in areas in the province is likely to be higher than the average of many years, concentrated in the first months of summer.

Soldiers of Regiment 841 help people transport flooded rice for drying.

In particular, from now until July, extreme weather, unusually heavy rain, thunderstorms, tornadoes, and lightning will continue to occur, along with short, unusual floods that will cause damage to people.

This year, storms and tropical depressions are forecast to be as active as the average of many years, with the possibility of storms making landfall directly in Ha Tinh. This poses a major challenge to the province's natural disaster prevention and response to climate change. According to many opinions, all levels and sectors need to have an in-depth assessment and review of the damage situation, causes, especially flood drainage infrastructure in the areas. Accordingly, there are solutions to invest, upgrade, and overcome shortcomings related to bridge and canal infrastructure in areas that are frequently flooded to increase the ability to drain quickly when there is heavy rain.

“All levels and sectors need to re-study the construction and residential planning of areas that are frequently flooded, set accurate flood cos to minimize the possibility of flooding; build clear fences to ensure quick drainage; structure perennial trees instead of annual trees to support flood prevention in the plains…”, said Mr. Le Ngoc Ha - Vice Chairman of Cam Xuyen District People's Committee.

People in Thach Dai commune (Ha Tinh city) salvage water hyacinth and clear the flow after the flood.

Along with that, the motto of "4 on-site" is constantly applied, especially the proactiveness of the people in preparing for themselves safe disaster prevention plans, avoiding passive, unexpected, subjective situations, especially unseasonal rains.

Most importantly, professional agencies must improve their forecasting and forecasting work, have clear recommendations and warnings for extreme weather phenomena; coordinate with local authorities and irrigation companies to proactively manage and regulate works during heavy rains.

Source: https://baohatinh.vn/lu-giua-mua-he-thoi-tiet-cuc-doan-tro-thanh-moi-de-doa-hien-huu-post288837.html