Storm Noru heads for central Vietnam

As of Sunday morning, the storm lay centered around 300 kilometers to the east of Luzon Island in the Philippines with sustained wind of 183 kilometers per hour, according to the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting.

In the next 24 hours, it would move west-northwest with a speed of 20-25 kph.

By 7 a.m. Monday, its wind speed would reduce to 134- 149 kph and the storm would be around 800 km east of Vietnam’s Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelago.

The center of the storm would be about 190 km east of the Hoang Sa archipelago on Tuesday morning, with a wind speed of 149 kph and would continue moving at a speed of 25-30 kph.

On Wednesday morning, the storm’s eye would be over the mainland of central localities Thua Thien Hue, Da Nang, Quang Nam and Quang Ngai that are home to UNESCO heritage sites and popular tourist attractions.

After making landfall in the central region, the storm’s wind speed is forecast to be about 140 kph. It is forecast to continue moving 70-80 km into the mainland, with wind weakening to 88 kph.

The Japan Meteorological Station forecast Storm Noru will reach its maximum wind speed of 138 kph when it hit Luzon Island and when near the mainland in Vietnam’s central provinces, its wind speed would increase to 144 kph.

Hong Kong weather forecasting agency also gave the same forecast for the storm’s direction and intensity.

Noru would be the fourth storm to enter the East Sea, known internationally as the South China Sea, this year and is likely to be the strongest so far.

Weather experts predicts that after Noru, there will be about 3-5 storms hitting the East Sea, of which one to two will directly affect Vietnam.