1997 Typhoon Linda Storm Surge and People's Awareness 20 Years Later: Uninvestigated Worst Storm Event in the Mekong Delta

Abstract. Typhoon Linda (1997) was the worst storm in the Mekong Delta. However, very little scientific information is available. Of the last 228 storms to make landfall in Vietnam, this tropical cyclone took the southernmost course, and the estimated reoccurrence period is once in 150 years or longer. Our analysis reveals that the storm surge reached 1.5-m high along the eastern coast of the low-lying delta, and it even propagated until the regional capital of Can Tho, which is located 80-km inland from the river mouth. Despite the fact that local people in Can Tho still clearly remember Linda after almost 20 years, curiously all of the interviewees replied, I am not afraid of a typhoon. On the other hand, the islanders of Con Dao, which was directly impacted by Linda, acknowledged a high degree of awareness of typhoon disasters. This study demonstrates that only a memory of the past significant event does not necessarily improve people's awareness. Because the delta was a nearly uninhabited mangrove jungle before the 20th century, this particular typhoon event needs to be better studied to envisage a future catastrophic gray swan event.