Record low floods may harm Vietnam's '99 rice crop
HANOI - Record low flooding in
Vietnam's fertile southern Mekong Delta may harm the
nation's rice crop next year, officials said on Thursday.
But they said Vietnam -- a key exporter of rice, coffee
and pepper -- should remain alert for heavy storms from
the La Nina weather pattern over the next two months.
``On the good side there will be no harm for
infrastructure such as roads,'' a meteorologist in southern
An Giang province said by telephone, referring to the
low flooding.
``But it will make problems for farmers because rice
fields need natural cleaning from floods and insects could
boom.''
La Nina, ``the little girl'' in Spanish, features
colder-than-normal ocean temperature in the Pacific and
sometimes follows the hotter-than-usual El Nino weather
pattern.
The meteorologist said water levels would be sufficient
for the high-yielding winter-spring rice crop now being
planted in the delta. But he said higher salt levels in
arable land would threaten the summer-autumn crop
next year.
He said this year's flooding peaked in the Mekong Delta
rice bowl at only 2.81 metres (9.3 feet) above normal
water levels at Tan Chau district.
Tan Chau is one of two places where officials obtain
data on water levels in the delta. The dry season
normally begins in the delta around November.
The previous lowest recorded floodwater level at Tan
Chau was 3.14 metres (10.4 feet) in 1988, the
meteorologist said.
Rice traders have said the delta might record lower
water levels in the coming six-month dry season but
fears of serious drought hitting harvests in 1999 were
overblown at this stage.
The Mekong River, the longest in Southeast Asia,
originates in the Tibetan plateau and flows 4,800 km
(3,000 miles) through Myanmar, Laos, Thailand,
Cambodia and Vietnam before spilling into the South
China Sea.
Vietnam's Mekong Delta spreads across 12 southern
provinces and is the country's key food source. It
accounts for the bulk of Vietnam's rice, rubber, fruit and
seafood exports.
Other officials said it was unclear whether storms and
typhoons would strike the country before year-end.
``We dare not say that a big typhoon will not actually
come between now and the year-end,'' said an official
from the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorology in
Hanoi.
He said authorities should be on alert in the country's
centre and south for La Nina. ``From central Vietnam
and then heading south, La Nina might be seen this
month and during the first week of December,'' he said.
Last November Typhoon Linda raked across Vietnam's
southern tip, killing 587 people and destroying crops.
``La Nina has weakened in Asia but it might become
stronger (in Vietnam) later this year or early in 1999,''
the official said. ``We also forecast the coming winter
and spring in the north will be colder than normal.''
Winter hits northern Vietnam from late November to
February.
The official in Hanoi said recent heavy rains and flooding
in central Vietnam showed people should be on alert.
Official media have said rains and floods in central
provinces in the past two weeks have left 52 people
dead and hundreds of houses, paddy fields and road
networks damaged.
Reuters - November 05, 1998.
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