The ongoing drought leading to exhaustion of water sources in south-central Vietnam will continue until August or September this year, the National Hydrometeorological Forecasting Center has warned. At a Friday meeting on the weather and storm situation in 2015, Le Thanh Hai, deputy director of the center, said that a drought-caused serious shortage of water will occur in the region from Nghe An province to the northern area of Binh Thuan Province.  “This year’s drought will be very serious for south-central provinces, partly caused by climate change and partly caused by less rain last year,” Hai said. The total rainfall in 2004 was 10 percent less than expected and the lowest amount over the past 10 years, he added. Hai also warned that the currents of many rivers in the central region and the Central Highlands are weakening and will continue to weaken sharply until August. River levels in the region from Thanh Hoa to Ha Tinh provinces will be 30-80 percent lower than the average of many previous years, while higher rates, at 80-90 percent, are anticipated for rivers in Khanh Hoa and Ninh Thuan Province, he said. There is a possibility that the lowest river levels in the history of the country may occur this year, he warned. He also forecast that the number of storms and tropical depressions will be higher than in 2014 and that floods will be more prevalent in northern, central and Central Highlands regions than last year.

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