Tropical Storm Lionrock will enter the Gulf of Tonkin on Sunday morning and be likely downgraded into a depression before landing in Vietnam, the national weather agency forecast.

The storm, the seventh in the East Vietnam Sea so far this year, was centered on China’s Hainan Island around 10:00 am on Saturday, packing winds of up to 75km per hour, the National Center for Hydro-meteorological Forecasting said.

Over the next 24 hours, the storm is expected to move northwest at 10km per hour and entered the Gulf of Tonkin.

Lionrock will have been 90km off the northern city of Hai Phong by 10:00 am on Sunday, with winds at 60-90km per hour.

The storm will later shift west-southwestward at 15-20km per hour and weaken into a tropical depression before making landfall in the country’s south-northern to north-central region.

At 10:00 pm the same day, the depression will be located in north-central Thanh Hoa Province, with winds decreasing to 40-50km per hour.

In the next 36 to 48 hours, the depression will move to Laos with winds blowing at less than 40km per hour.

From Saturday noon, there will be extremely rough seas in the northwest part of the East Vietnam Sea, including the waters of Vietnam’s Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelaho, along with winds of up to 102km per hour and waves reaching two to four meters in height.

The Gulf of Tonkin will have winds at 62 to 88km per hour and squalls at 117km per hour, causing rough seas and high waves.  

The southern part of the East Vietnam Sea, including the waters of Vietnam’s Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelago, will also have rough seas and winds of 50 to 61km per hour.

Medium to heavy rains of 50 to 300 millimeters are forecast to lash the northern part and the region from north-central Thanh Hoa to Quang Binh Provinces from Saturday to next Tuesday.  

Flash floods and landslides may occur in mountainous areas while inundation is likely to hit low-lying areas.

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