Authorities of the central city of Da Nang are planning to evacuate 20,000 households, mainly in Lien Chieu and Hoa Vang districts, as part of precautions ahead of super typhoon Haiyan, which is forecast to hit Vietnam early Sunday.

The evacuation will finish before 7:00pm today, according to Van Huu Chien – chairman of the People’s Committee of the city.

As one of the strongest storms ever recorded on the planet, Haiyan plowed across the Philippines yesterday and is now moving into the East Sea. It is traveling west-northwest at a speed of about 30 kph.

“This is the strongest typhoon in the history of the East Sea, and it can be compared with other historic storms as hurricanes Andrew and Katrina in the US, and typhoon Nargis in Myanmar,” said Bui Minh Tang—director of the Central Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting Center.

“It may be the strongest storm to hit the mainland of Vietnam in history,” he added. “The wind radius of the typhoon is 400 – 500km wide.”

From now until the typhoon makes landfall in Vietnam, the waters between the Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelagos in the East Sea will be very dangerous, with strong winds and gusts reaching Category 15-17 levels, or from 202-220 kph.

Violent winds and gusts are likely to start impacting the waters off the central region this afternoon.

The center of the typhoon is forecast to approach the coastal region from Quang Ngai to Hue around 4:00am on November 10, before moving north into Quang Binh and Nghe An provinces, said Tang.

The coastal area from Phu Yen to Thanh Hoa will experience winds from Category 8 to Category 14.

Heavy rains will drench the area beginning this evening, with average rainfall amounts ranging from 200mm to 600mm, according to Mr. Tang.

Coastal areas from Nghe An to Quang Ngai will see a flood tide of 4-6 meters and waves as high as 5-8 meters.