Mr Hai urged all provincial and municipal departments for education and training to close their schools on September 29 and 30.

Following the Deputy PM’s request, a frontline steering committee was set up in Da Nang City to help localities to cope with the tropical storm. Many agencies were also asked to stand by round the clock to respond to emergencies. He ordered all the provinces and cities from Thanh Hoa to Quang Ngai and the Central Highlands to strictly follow the instructions provided by the relevant agencies and local authorities. They must ban ships from sailing to danger areas and prepare medicine and necessary equipment for emergencies, he said.

The same day, Deputy PM Hai also chaired an urgent meting with the National Steering Committee for Flood Prevention and Control and the National Committee for Rescue Work to help local people brace themselves for the storm Ketsana.

According to the National Centre for Hydro-meteorological Forecasting, at 10:00 on September 28, the eye of the storm was positioned at a latitude of 16 degrees north and a longitude of 112.3 degrees east. The storm was 390km of the coastline of Thua Thien-Hue and Quang Nam provinces, packing winds of 118-133km per hour (category 12).

Over the next 24 hours, Ketsana will move west-northwest at a speed of 10-15km per hour. At 4pm on September 28, the storm was 360km off the central coastline. It was forecast that there would be heavy rain and flooding in the central provinces from Thanh Hoa to Quang Ngai and in the northern part of the Central Highlands.

Coastal areas from Thanh Hoa to Thua Thien Hue would face tidal waves of 3-5m in height. A preliminary report from the committee for flood and storm prevention and control in the central region said that by the morning of September 28, all ships belonging to Quang Binh, Quang Tri and Thua Thien Hue had been called back to shore.