Central region strains itself to confront new storm

Tuy Hòa City of Phú Yên Province in water, November 4, 2009 – Photo: VGP

Deputy PM Hoàng Trung Hải this morning came to the hardest-hit Province of Phú Yên to regulate evacuation and rescue work there.

He ordered the local authority not to let a single person suffer hunger and cold and evacuate people from the isolated areas.

In Phú Yên, 39 people were reported dead, 18 missing and 20 wounded.

The province’s capital city of Tuy Hòa is still submerged. Sông Cầu Town and the surroundings were plunged into deep water due to the breakdown of Đá Vải Dam early Tuesday.

Deputy PM Hoàng Trung Hải (sitting by the window) on a helicopter to inspect the flooded areas in Phú Yên Province, November 4, 2009 – Photo: VGP

In Central Highlands province of Gia Lai, floods are receding gradually but people in 9 communes of the districts of La Ba and Krông Pa are still being isolated. Now, 3 people died in La Ba District.

Electricity was cut, information trickles from the isolated areas. Moreover, torrential rains and landslides made it difficult to rescue people there.

In Bình Định Province, local authorities said that 9 people were killed, 2 missing and 17 injured. Four deaths were also reported in Khánh Hòa Province.

Until this morning, the districts of Nhơn Bình, Nhơn Phú and Tuy Phước (Bình Định Province) were still isolated.

On Wednesday afternoon, Deputy PM Hoàng Trung Hải convened an urgent meeting with leaders of Phú Yên Province to work out a master plan for overcoming the aftermaths of the tropical storm.

By Hải Minh