Around 6pm on the 3rd day of the Lunar New Year, the warning sirens at Bai Sau beach (Vung Tau City) howled continuously, calling for swimmers to come ashore due to big waves.
“Let’s go ashore, the waves are too big, we can’t take a bath,” Giang and his wife (from Ho Chi Minh City) urged their two children to return when they just walked to the embankment of Bai Sau beach in Vung Tau city.
Swimmers rushed to shore when they heard the sirens at 6pm. The big wave has exceeded the warning black flag position (Photo: Tam Linh).
Mr. Giang’s family has just arrived at the beach town at noon on the 3rd of the Lunar New Year (January 24), after resting and waiting for the cool afternoon to go to the beach. “Standing in the hotel, it was sunny and beautiful without rain, I thought the weather was fine, who expected to get there, the wind was very strong and the waves were big, afraid of danger to the children,” the family said.
Han’s group (from An Giang) said that they went to the sea to bathe at 5 pm, but after 10 minutes, they saw big waves hitting the shore continuously. After that, this group of tourists sat in the sand until they heard the sirens.
“This is the first time I have come to Vung Tau to play, but I haven’t had time to swim much, I feel a bit sorry that I hit a rough day, and I don’t have time to stay another day to go to the sea anymore,” said Ms. Han.
High winds knocked down public bicycles on Ha Long street, Bai Dua area (Photo: Tam Linh).
As noted by Dan Tri, In the afternoon of the same day, strong winds occurred on the entire route along the coast from Front Beach to Back Beach, accompanied by big waves below, some waves hitting the road surface.
According to the big wave warning of the National Center for Hydro-meteorological Forecasting issued on the afternoon of January 24, the highest observed water level at Vung Tau marine marine station recorded in the morning of the same day was 4.37m.
It is forecasted that on the 4th day of the Lunar New Year (January 25), the southern coastal area will have a high tide, the highest water level at Vung Tau station can reach 4.3-4.4m, the sea is rough.
During the three days of the 2023 Lunar New Year (January 22 to January 24), the Department of Tourism of Ba Ria – Vung Tau province is estimated to serve nearly 258,000 visitors, of which about 59,000 stay guests. The booking rate reaches about 80-85% of capacity. It is forecasted that after the 3rd day of Tet, the room capacity will increase to 85-90%.
On the afternoon of the 3rd day of the Lunar New Year (January 24), along the beach front beach in Vung Tau city, it was packed with vehicles of locals and tourists (Photo: Tam Linh).
The Department of Tourism of Ba Ria – Vung Tau province has planned to strengthen the emergency force to respond 100% to whirlpools and dangerous currents; regularly broadcast rescue alarms; put black flags in dangerous places and separate the beach to limit the bathing area for tourists; at the same time, on duty 24/24 for water emergencies in the whole area.