Tropical storm Hagupit will weaken into a low pressure system before making landfall in south central Vietnam early Friday, the Vietnam National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting said Wednesday morning.

>> Storm Hagupit enters East Sea, heading for south-central Vietnam At 4 am on Wednesday (Vietnam time), the storm was centered about 390 km east-northeast of Song Tu Tay Island, part of the Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelago in the East Sea, packing winds of up to 74 km and gusts of 102 kph. The storm is moving west at a speed of 20 km, but it may later change direction to west-southwest. At 4 am on December 11, the storm will be 340 km east-northeast of the south-central coast between Khanh Hoa and Ninh Thuan provinces, with maximum winds of 117 kph. At 4 pm the same day, the storm will be centered 130 km east-northeast of the same region, with weaker winds of up to 74 kph. Due to the storm, which is accompanied by a cold front, the middle area of the East Sea at that time will have rough seas and winds of 62-88 kph and gusts of 89-117 kph. In the next 24 hours, the storm will continue to move west-southwest at 20 kph and weaken into a tropical depression and then a low pressure area.  

The expected path of storm Hagupit in the East Sea (Photo:Vietnam National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting)

As of tomorrow, the waters off the region from the central province of Quang Nam to the south-central province of Binh Thuan will face winds of up to 61 kph and squalls of 88 kph. The bad weather will bring medium to heavy rains to coastal south-central provinces from Thursday evening. At 4 am on Friday, December 12, the low pressure system will be located in the south-central region, with winds under 39 kph.   Along with the stormy weather, a cold snap is moving into northern Vietnam, bringing chilled temperatures to the region and heavy rains to central provinces, the center warned. The Central Steering Committee for Flood and Storm Prevention and Control has asked local authorities in the region from the central city of Da Nang to Ca Mau province in the south to keep all boats at sea well informed of the storm’s movement and call on them to leave dangerous waters or avoid entering them.

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