At 10.00am on November 9, Haiyan was 220km north east of the Song Tu Tay island of Vietnam’s Truong Sa archipelago, packing sustained winds of 163kph near its centre.
In the next 24 hours, it will travel north-west at a speed of 30-35kph along the central coast.
It is likely to change its course and race along the central coast from Thua Thien-Hue up to Thanh Hoa provinces before weakening into a low depression.
At an urgent meeting on November 9, weather officials Haiyan will head towards the central coast of Quang Ngai and Danang early on November 11 and change its course, churning along the coastal provinces.
The typhoon will quickly be downgraded into a tropical depression that could dump heavy rains of between 100-300mm, even 500mm, on central-north-central and northern provinces.
They warned heavy downpours accompanied by strong winds could trigger huge flash floods and landslides in mountain localities.
Bui Minh Tang, director of the National Hydro-meteorological Forecasting Centre, proposed mountain and flood-prone localities hasten residential evacuations from high-risk areas before the typhoon makes landfall on November 10.
Quang Ngai province would be one of the first central localities Haiyan rips through late on November 10. Local residents are racing against time to reinforce their houses and public works with sand bags to minimise property damage.
Nearly 90,000 people in high-risk and low-lying areas have fled their homes to concrete buildings.
