The National Centre for Hydrometeorology Forecasting reported that as of 4 this morning, November 3, the storm laid centred in the area some 450 kilometres from the southeast of the Hoang Sa (Paracel) Archipelago with the strongest wind power near its year of between 60-75 kilometres per hour.
Storm Goni, the tenth storm of the year, is moving towards the central region of Vietnam.
In the next 24 hours, the storm would be 290 kilometres from the Paracel Archipelago.
Between 48-72 hours to come, the storm would move towards west-southwest at the speed of 10 kilometres per hour and then make landfall in the mainland of provinces from Quang Ngai and Khanh Hoa. Later, it would weaken into a tropical depression.
Vietnam News Agency cited Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong as saying that Goni was a super typhoon that lost strength when entering the East Sea.
“It’s difficult to predict the storm's developments,” he said, calling for close observation of the storm.
“We must prepare for the possibility of flash floods, landslides and damage to dams and reservoirs,” he noted.
As of Monday, Storm Molave had killed 31 people and injured 134 others, while 49 people remain unaccounted for. Damage has been estimated at VND10 trillion (USD434.78 million).