At 7 a.m. Prapiroon was churning across the northern coastal areas of Quang Ninh and Hai Phong, packing winds of 61kph near its centre, according to the National Centre for Hydro-meteorological Forecasting.

After making landfall, the tropical depression is forecast to be moving slowly between west and north-west at a speed of 5-10kph and to weaken further.

Prapiroon is also causing strong winds and rain across northern coastal localities, especially Hai Phong and Quang Ninh, with rainfall of more than 200mm.

Authorities reported that strong winds brought down big trees in the coastal area of Ha Long city, Quang Ninh province, causing traffic congestion.

Though localities such as Hanoi, Thai Binh, and Nam Dinh are not in the eye of the tropical depression, they have also endured a long spell of heavy rain overnight till now.

Meteorologists warned that localities in the northern and north-central regions will experience heavy rain and thunderstorms, with rainfall of 50-100 mm. Some localities will even record a higher rainfall of more than 200 mm.

Prapiroon is the second tropical storm that has formed in the East Sea, and the first that has hit Vietnamese mainland this year.

The first storm, Maliksi, battered the southern part of China and weakened into a tropical depression in May 2024.

With El Nino fading away and La Nina coming, the stormy season this year is anticipated to be complicated.

It is expected that between 6 and 8 tropical depressions/tropical storms will form in the East Sea, with 2-4 of them expected to batter the mainland of Vietnam from now till October 2024.