The tropical depression that is moving towards the south-central and southern regions may upgrade into a storm and strike these regions soon, the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting reported.

>> Storm Haiyan leaves 14 dead, 81 injured in Vietnam >> Monster typhoon exposes an ill-prepared

The possible storm may hit provinces in the south-central and southeast region early next morning, said Le Thanh Hai, deputy director of the center. Starting Thursday afternoon, mid-central provinces will experience medium to heavy rains, with downpours in some areas. The rainy weather will spread to the Central Highlands region tonight. At 7 am ICT today, November 13, the depression was centered at 11.7 degrees latitude north and 114.7 degrees longitude east, in the waters north of the Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelago, with winds near the eye reaching up to 61 kph, and squalls of 62-88 kph. Within the following 12 hours, the depression will move west at a speed of 25 km and will likely develop into a storm. Due to the depression, the central East Sea, including the sea of Truong Sa, will experience rough seas and winds as strong as 74 kph and gusts up to 102 kph. From this afternoon, the waters off the Binh Dinh-Binh Thuan coast will be rough, with winds of 39-61 kph and squalls of 62-88 kph.      At 7 pm the same day, the possible storm will be centered at 11.8 degrees latitude north and 111.7 degrees longitude east, about 270 km east off the coast from Phu Yen to Binh Thuan Provinces. Winds near the eye will reach up to 74 kph, and squalls of 75-102 kph. The storm will likely change its direction to west-southwest and move at a speed of 25 kph. It may make a landfall in the above region on early morning of November 15. The storm will than weaken into  tropical depression. Starting Thursday afternoon, mid-central provinces will experience medium to heavy rains, with downpours in some areas. The rainy weather will spread to the Central Highlands region tonight. Yesterday the Central Steering Committee for Flood and Storm Prevention and Control and the National Committee for Search and Rescue sent their messages to local authorities in the region from Quang Binh to Ca Mau Provinces and concerned agencies asking them to take effective measures to cope with a possible storm.