Noul, the fifth storm to enter the East Sea this year, is gaining strength, heading to the central region of Vietnam and expectedly makes land on Friday. The fifth storm to enter theEast Sea this year is heading to the central region of Vietnam. — Photo kttv.gov.vn According to Mai Van Khiem, director of the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting, the storm would directly affect central provinces, especially Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Thua Thien-Hue and Da Nang with wind speeds of 90-100 km per hour and sometimes hitting 135 km per hour. Heavy rain will blanket the central provinces from Thursday afternoon to Friday night, he said, warning about high risk of flash flood and landslides in the central region. By 1 pm on Wednesday, the storm’s eye was about 680 km away to the south east of Hoang Sa (Paracels) with the strongest wind of 60-75 km per hour, sometimes reaching 90-100 km per hour. The storm is moving west-northwest. It’s expected that by 1pm on Friday, the storm eye will be on the waters close to provinces from Quang Bình to Quang Ngai with wind at the storm eye reaching 100-135 km per hour or more. After making landfall in central provinces from Quang Bình to Da Nang on Friday afternoon or evening, the storm would be weakened to become a tropical low pressure. About 1am on Saturday, the heart of the tropical low pressure is on the border area of Lao and Thailand with strongest wind reducing to 40-50 km per hour. Meeting with ministries and agencies on Wednesday morning to make preparations, Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung raised alert levels, calling for active and timely actions to respond to the storm’s movements. He asked localities, border guards and the transport sector to tighten control over the operation of fishing vessels and tourist ships at sea so the vessels/ships would avoid entering storm-affected areas and find safe shelter. By 10am on Wednesday, border guards informed …
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