Super typhoon Saola has entered the East Vietnam Sea and is moving west-northwest, carrying powerful winds of up to 201 kph and 10-meter-high waves, Vietnam’s central weather agency reported.

At 7:00 am on Thursday, the typhoon, which recently passed over the north of Luzon Island in the Philippines, was located in the northern part of the East Vietnam Sea, about 470km southeast of Hong Kong, the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting.

Packing sustained winds of 167-201 kph and gusts of over 220 kph, the powerful storm is currently moving west-northwest at a speed of 10-15 kph.

It will cause very rough seas with high waves of 8-10 meters on Thursday in the northeastern part of the East Vietnam Sea.

The southern part of the maritime area, including the waters of Vietnam's Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelago, and the waters from Ninh Thuan to Ca Mau Provinces will have strong southwest winds of up to 61 kph and squalls reaching 88 kph, along with rough seas.

With such strong winds, this super typhoon has a great devastating force and may sink ships with large tonnes, the center warned.

Due to the stormy weather, the southern Central Highlands and the southeast regions will see moderate to torrential rain and scattered thunderstorms, with rainfall from 40 to 100mm in most affected areas and over 150mm in certain regions between Thursday and next Monday. 

The northern Central Highlands and southwest regions will see showers and rainstorms, with rainfall of 20-50mm in most places and in excess of 90mm in several areas.

The Standing Office of the National Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control has issued a dispatch to its units and agencies concerned from northern Quang Ninh to north-central Ha Tinh Provinces, asking them to take measures to respond to the typhoon’s possible impacts.

However, the typhoon may slightly weaken during its course in the next 24 hours from Thursday, the center forecast.

By early Friday morning, the typhoon will have been centered around 280 km east-southeast of Hong Kong, with weaker winds of 150-183 kph while squalls will remain at over 220 kph.

In the next 24-48 hours, the tropical storm is forecast to continue to move west-northwest at the same speed and may get weaker.

At 4:00 am next Monday, the storm will center on the waters south of China’s Guangdong Province, with winds downgrading to 134-166 kph and gusts of up to 220 kph.

The typhoon will not hit the Chinese mainland but change its direction to west-southwest, moving along the coast of Guangdong toward China’s Leizhou peninsula and Hainan Island, the center forecast.

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