According to the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting, at 1 am on June 11, the tropical depression was located about 240 km east-southeast of the Paracel Islands, packing winds of 50 - 61 kmh, with gusts up to nearly 100kph.
The system is expected to continue moving west-northwest and strengthen into a tropical storm sometime between the morning and noon of June 11. It would be the first tropical storm of the year in the East Sea and also the first to form in the northwest Pacific region this season.
In the following 24 to 48 hours, the storm is anticipated to gain further strength and continue moving northwest at 10 - 15 kmh. From 48 to 72 hours onward, the storm could shift direction, moving north-northwest at about 10 kmh.
The Northern part of the East Sea will experience thunderstorms, strong winds and high waves of up to 4.5 m. As the storm moves along the central coast of Vietnam, it will dump between 100 - 300mm or event 450mm of rain on coastal provinces, especially from Quang Binh to Quang Ngai.
There is a high risk of localized downpours exceeding 200mm in just six hours, which may lead to flash floods and landslides.
Meteorologists warned the path and strength of the tropical depression and then potential storm are still uncertain and may change over the coming days depending on atmospheric conditions.
