Tourist attractions in Vietnam’s Ninh Binh Province suspend or restrict operations due to storm Narra

The provincial Department of Tourism said on Sunday morning that some tourist sites had proactively suspended or scaled back operations to ensure visitor safety amid adverse weather conditions.

At the Trang An Scenic Landscape Complex, all tourism activities have been suspended until further notice.

The Thung Nham ecotourism site started to suspend visits to Hang But and Tien Ca Cave on Friday.

Cuc Phuong National Park has also suspended overnight stays in the forest since Friday, while Xuan Thuy National Park has suspended estuary boat tours from 5:00 am on Saturday.

According to the provincial department, the temporary closures and restrictions are precautionary measures intended to protect visitors under hazardous weather conditions.

Decisions on reopening will depend on weather developments and actual conditions at each site.

Not all tourist attractions across Ninh Binh have been closed.

Tourist sites and services that continue to meet safety requirements remain open.

The department has advised tourists to check weather forecasts and the operating status of attractions before setting out.

Visitors are also urged to follow instructions from site managers and authorities and avoid areas that have been declared off-limits or temporarily closed.

Ninh Binh welcomed an estimated 20 million visitors between January and August, up 24.1 percent year on year and equivalent to 98.9 percent of the full-year target, according to the department.

International arrivals were estimated at more than 2.2 million.

Storm takes erratic track

The storm is expected to remain complicated in the coming days and bring heavy rain to northeastern Vietnam, according to meteorological experts.

In Lang Son Province, torrential rain has triggered landslides and flooding, leaving one person dead and forcing more than 2,300 households to evacuate.

Nguyen Van Huong, head of the weather forecasting division at the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting, said on Sunday morning that the storm was following an unusual and unpredictable path.

Over the previous two days, the storm had alternated between a northerly and westerly direction.

However, it began shifting southward on Saturday night and early on Sunday morning.

At 9:00 am on Sunday morning, the storm was over the waters between Quang Ninh Province and Hai Phong City, about 130 kilometers east of Quang Ninh and 140 kilometers east-northeast of Hai Phong.

It was also some 65 kilometers north of Bach Long Vi Special Zone.

Maximum sustained winds near the storm center remained at level 8, or 62-74kph, with gusts reaching level 10.

Huong said the storm was forecast to move east-southeast over the next 24 hours.

During the next 24 to 48 hours, it might change direction and move northeast, at times turning north, before weakening into a tropical depression and making landfall in China's Guangxi.

Huong attributed the storm's erratic movement to relatively weak steering currents.

He said the storm was also positioned along a tropical convergence zone alongside another tropical cyclone over the waters east of China, factors that could cause its track to continue changing.

The storm is expected to maintain heavy rainfall across northeastern Vietnam, with the heaviest precipitation forecast in Cao Bang, Lang Son, Bac Ninh, Quang Ninh, Hai Phong, Hung Yen, and Ninh Binh.

Rainfall totals of 100-200mm are forecast from Sunday through Monday, with some areas potentially receiving more than 300mm.

The heavy rain is also raising the risk of flash floods and landslides in Thai Nguyen, Lang Son, Cao Bang, Bac Ninh, and Quang Ninh Provinces.

As of 7:00 am on Sunday, the storm, flooding, and landslides had killed one person in Lang Son after a landslide struck a house.

Around 200 houses were damaged or lost their roofs, while another 733 houses in the province were flooded.

As river levels rose in Lang Son, local authorities evacuated 2,335 households in Ky Cung and Huu Lung.

Flooding also affected over 2,860 hectares of crops, while 603 locations were hit by landslides or inundation.