Google Maps carries information about central Vietnam floods

Typing in ‘central Vietnam floods’ in the search box causes a box to pop up with the option to ‘see the latest updates about central Vietnam floods.’

It then displays the areas affected by floods between Quang Binh and Quang Ngai provinces.

A screenshot of the Google Maps app featuring locations of areas hit by floods in central Vietnam . Photo by VnExpress/Minh Nga.

Users can share the maps of floods and their own location with others and add their own information such as about road closures to help others navigate.

The data about the floods is obtained from the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting and the Vietnam Disasters Monitoring System.

The entire central region has been battered by downpours over the last four days.

Some areas in Quang Tri Province and neighboring Thua Thien-Hue Province have received 980 mm of rain. Rainfall of 180 mm a day is considered heavy.

Nearly 33,400 houses have been flooded in the central region, including 13,000 in Quang Binh, 17,800 in Quang Tri and 2,000 in Thua Thien-Hue, according to the Central Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control.

At least five people have been killed, two in Quang Tri and the others in Quang Ngai, Dak Lak and Gia Lai provinces. Eight others were missing as of Saturday morning.

Task forces evacuate a family hit by floods in Hue of Thua Thien-Hue Province, central Vietnam, October 9, 2020. Photo by VnExpress/Vo Thanh.

This is not the first time that Google Maps has posted weather-related warnings for Vietnamese users. In August last year, when Storm Wipha hit Vietnam, it carried its path and related information.

When Da Nang City became the Covid-19 epicenter in August and September, the app carried information about roads that had been blocked off and zones that had been locked down.

Google Maps warns about heavy traffic in major Vietnamese cities every day.