Hanoi, August 22, 2026 — The Europe Today: Prime Minister Lê Minh Hưng has ordered authorities to maintain proactive disaster preparedness and accelerate flood recovery efforts following deadly flooding, heavy rain and severe weather across northern and north-central Vietnam.
In an urgent official dispatch issued on Friday, the prime minister directed the chairpersons of the People’s Committees of affected provinces and centrally governed cities, along with the National Steering Committee for Civil Defence, relevant ministries and state media agencies, to strengthen disaster response measures.
The dispatch noted that heavy rain, flooding, whirlwinds and lightning had caused fatalities in several northern and north-central localities.
In Nghệ An Province, flooding inundated roads, destroyed temporary bridges, disrupted transportation and temporarily isolated remote villages in Tam Thái Commune. Authorities were warned that delays in restoring infrastructure could seriously affect residents’ daily lives and prevent students from attending school at the beginning of the new academic year.
The National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting reported that a tropical depression over the Gulf of Tonkin was moving slowly and could strengthen into a storm, potentially bringing heavy rainfall to parts of northern Vietnam in the coming days.
Following an earlier official dispatch issued on August 17, Prime Minister Hưng instructed authorities to continue closely monitoring weather developments, respond promptly to the tropical depression and swiftly address flood-related damage within their respective areas of responsibility.
Provincial and municipal authorities were directed to ensure the safety of boats and vessels operating on rivers and at sea, particularly in the Gulf of Tonkin.
Local authorities were also instructed to review areas at risk of deep flooding, flash floods and landslides and proactively evacuate residents when necessary. They were urged to provide timely assistance to affected families, particularly households that had lost family members in the disasters.
The prime minister further ordered authorities to ensure traffic safety at fords, spillways and on roads vulnerable to deep flooding and landslides.
Localities were instructed to maintain personnel, supplies, equipment and other resources in a state of readiness so that recovery operations could begin immediately following floods and heavy rainfall.
The measures are aimed at minimizing casualties and property losses, restoring essential infrastructure and ensuring that affected communities can quickly return to normal life.
