A low pressure area in the southwestern waters of Vietnam’s Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelago in the East Vietnam Sea strengthened into a tropical depression on Tuesday morning, the national weather center reported on the same day.

The tropical depression was spotted some 150 kilometers southwest of the Hoang Sa archipelago at 10:00 am on Tuesday.

The system was moving northwest at 5-10 kilometers per hour, packing winds blowing 49 kilometers per hour, according to the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting.

By 10:00 am on Wednesday, it could travel around 10 kilometers per hour and pick up strength to become a storm in the waters off Quang Tri Province to Da Nang City in central Vietnam.

The storm will likely move north-northwest at that speed and hit the southern waters of the Gulf of Tonkin by 10:00 am on Thursday.

The center added that the northern waters of the East Vietnam Sea and the waters running from Quang Tri Province to Quang Ngai Province in the central region may see increased strong winds and rough seas.

The storm could also bring heavy rains to central Vietnamese localities between Tuesday and Thursday.

From Thursday onward, heavy rains may lash northern and north-central localities while tapering off in central localities.

The national steering committee for natural disaster prevention and control on Monday afternoon asked authorities in coastal central provinces from Thanh Hoa to Khanh Hoa to closely monitor developments of the weather conditions and supervise fishing vessels planning to go out to the sea.

Authorities have to inform owners and captains of fishing boats of the weather conditions to take precautionary measures, as well as stay ready for possible rescue operations, the steering committee said.

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