Lao PDR—Flood update 3

1 August 2017

Figure 1: Storm track1 Pre- Update Impact Ministry of Natural Resource and Environment issued an early warning message on 24 July 2017 to the central - south provinces of the Country to be prepared to the tropical storm SONCA-17. The storm will pass through and will affect several provinces Borikhamxay, Khammuane and . It will bring the rainfall from average to heavy also to Vientiane capital up to Xayabuly, Xaysomboon, and then to the South part of the Country such as Saravanvane, Champasack, and . ## 28 July 2017 According to Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare, 5 provinces are flooded due to the impact of this tropi- cal storm include Xayabury, Saravane, Champasack, Sekong, and . Currently, authori- ties in district level are collecting the information and can not provide clear information on the impact at the moment. Same day, local media (face-book) keeps posting the images of flooding in some district, include Xay- phoothong district/—450 hectare is under water 2 , 19 villages in Pathoomphone district/Champasack province are reported flooded—road cut is also reported3. khenthao district / Xaya- bury, media claimed that 89 households are affected (58 households are serious with 2 deaths4), district authorities have provided some initial assistance. The capital city in Sekong and Vapy district in Sara- vane province are reported flooded with more than 30 villages affected5. ## 29 July 2017 -WFP office reported that 4 villages /Attapeu province, 447 households with 2,428 people are affected, and 232 hectares of rice field damaged6. Kongxedone district/Saravane prov- ince is flooded with 6,200 hectares of rice field damaged. Figure2 : Photo of road reconnected in Pathoomphone district -Local media7 reported that in Champasack water and constant noodle were provided by Provincial Au- thorities to the most affected people, the road cut at Ban Thahoo in Pathoomphone district (figure 2) was fixed to allow motorbike and people communicate. ## 31 July 2017, Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare informally reported below:

 Xayabury province. At night of 28 July 2017 at 3.00 AM, flash flooding hit 5 villages in Kenethao district. 140 households with 673 people; female 318 were affected and with 2 deaths. Flood made dam- age to 53 houses (initial costing is 2.5 billion kip). Provincial and District authorities have provided initial assistance included constant moodle, water, milled rice, some bedding materials to 2 villages (Ban Pong daeng and Ban Nong). Province had sent request assistance to Ministry level include 30 MT of rice, roof sheet 2,650, 800 kg of nails, and housing material 53 sets.

 Champasack province. There are 10 districts reported flooded, Sukhuma district is reported most severe, roads from district to district within the province were damaged. Provincial Department of Social Welfare has sent staff to collect information.  . 4 districts are flooded, there is no impact reported yet.

1 1 August 2017

 Sekong province. Part of 4 districts are flooded included Lamarm, Dakchung, Thateng, and Kale- Figure 4: Past 7 days rainfall anomaly (mm)8 um district; there is no impact reported yet.  Saravane province. 1 district reported which Khongxedon, water level has decreased, and prov- ince could address the issue themselves, but minor assistance requested to Ministry; especially secu- rity measure for staff.  Attapeu province. 2 district are flooded include Phouvong and Sanamxay district. Provincial So- cial Welfare Department is collecting information at the time being.

Figure 3: Past 7 day (24Jul-30Jul) percent of normal rainfall Rainfall in the past 7 days

Figures 3 and 4 illustrate the per- cent of total rainfall and rainfall anomaly in the past 7 days (24-30 July 2017). The majority of the Country received higher than nor- mal rainfall, from the north west down to the southern parts of the country. Extremely heavy rainfall occurred in Xayabury down to Vientiane Province and Vientiane Capital, in the eastern parts of Borikhamxay, Khammuane, western parts of Sa- vannakhet province, and the west- ern parts of Saravane province. Similarly, other parts of the rest of central and Southern provinces received higher rainfall than nor- mal due to the impact of the tropi- cal storm SONCA.

Food security estimate

The ASEAN One Response Centre estimated on the 25th July that their were approximately 1,872 affected families, 88 affected houses, 188 displaced persons and 3 deaths. The floods had already damages approximately 2,535ha of agriculture and fisheries. These numbers are expected to rise as updated data comes in. WFP is now working with partner (UN-OCHA) to estimate the level of food insecurity through remote sensing techniques. Within this week, the impact to food security could be estimated. Currently, there is no food assistance requested from Government. However, local Govern- ment has provided assistance on water, some food, and housing material to the most af- fected people.

2 August 2017

Rainfall & Flood Forecast Figure 5: Global Flood Detection System 31 July’17

Tuesday sees reduced rainfall to the majority of the country largely a result of the dissipating tropical storm SONCA. This should alleviate flooding conditions in affected areas however, the southern prov- inces of Champasak, Attapu and Sekong are expected to receive heavy rainfall through Tuesday night increasing flood and food insecurity risk. On Wednesday heavier rainfall can be expected in the southern parts of the country with heavy rainfall expected in Savannakhet, Saravan, Champasak, Attapu and Sekong. Thursday brings continued rainfall to the southern provinces of Saravan, Cham- pasak, Attapu and Sekon and heavy rainfall to the central provinces of Khammouan, Bolikhamxay and Vientiane Provinces. The rainfall forecast for Friday sees continued heavy to extremely heavy rainfall in the southern provinces of Saravan, Champasak, Attapu and Sekon and in Khammouan Province.

This consistent heavy rainfall in the central and southern parts of the country, particularly in the Sar- avan, Champasak, Attapu and Sekong provinces will exacerbate current flooding in high risk zones as identified in Figure 5 and would continue to inundate hectares of agricultural areas. This trend is also reflected in the Mekong river water level on 31 July 2017 where Pakze remains at alarmingly high level.

Due to continued heavy to extremely heavy rainfall expected over the next 5 days, WFP and partners should continue to monitor the situation and liaise with Government departments and district officials to identify areas and estimated numbers of people affected.

Figure 6: Rainfall Forecast (1—4 August)11 Tuesday 1st August ‘17 Wednesday 2nd August ‘17 Thursday 3rd August ‘17 Friday 4th August ‘17

Data Source 1: http://www.gdacs.org/report.aspx?eventid=1000373&episodeid=18&eventtype=TC 2 http://kpl.gov.la/detail.aspx?id=26610 3 http://www.laothai.org/2017/07/blog-post_26.html 4 http://www.laothai.org/2017/07/2_74.html 5 http://www.laosupdate.com/2017/07/NP305.html Prepared by: 6 Provincial Department of Planning and Investment 7 https://www.facebook.com/421087478095038/photos/pcb.689570794580037/689569544580162/?type=3&theater Dale WILSON | Climate Change and Resilience Consultant 8 http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/international/sasia_rfe/sasia_rfe_7day_sas_anom.gif Vilon VIPHONGXAY | Vulnerability Analysis & Mapping Officer 9 http://www.gdacs.org/flooddetection/ 10 http://www.mrcmekong.org 11 http://www.bbc.com/weather/1651944 3

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