This has got to be a tough one for meteorolgists in Vietnam. Obviously a lack of resources and international coordination caused them to bungle on this strom warning. It turns out that by 5 PM last night, Typhoon Noul may have veered north away from Ho chi minh City. Also, the storm was weakening becoming more of strong tropical rainstorm than the typhoon people here were worrying about.
I am not sure how Nha Trang handled the storm last light. It was predicted to make landfall at about 1:30 AM. No reports as of yet. Both Thanh Nien News and VietnamNet Bridge are still warning about Typhoon Noul for Saigon. Read more here -> Storm Noul makes landfall, weakens
A lot of businesses in Saigon were affected. I got my phone call not to come to work roughly at the same time the storm started to become less of a threat to Saigon. Was the warning unwarranted? No, I think it was needed.
Still, what bothers me is how I actually did NOTHING to prepare for a typhoon that was supposed to hit head on to Saigon. I got some water but that is it. I think it is time that Expats and local Vietnamese actually come up with a preparation plan. The storm would have caused havoc in the city had it hit. The canals were nearly spilling over again due to the unusually high tide last night.
Live and learn.
Edit: Latest from various news sources on Typhoon Noul:
- Country keeps watch on storm
- Storm changes direction and weakens, hits central region
- Noul smashes into Vietnam (CNN Video)
(Typhoon Noul damage – VietnamNet Bridge)
If this had been my home country I would have been incredibly embarrassed for the meteorological service. OK, this is Vietnam, but this was a really dumb flop. I can’t really take the service here seriously anymore. They’re amateurs.
A recent article on the newspapers accused the center of misinforming of the storms almost 5 times in the last 1 month and a half.
Alll the center had to say was that they had done there best!
This was not the first time. Something needs changing, otherwise I would still go to school on a stormy day and it felt like some of the hottest day 🙁