Storm likely to form over East Vietnam Sea in 10 days

The National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting reported that a low-pressure area is currently active off the coast of the Philippines and could intensify into a tropical depression between Thursday and Friday before moving into the northeastern part of the East Vietnam Sea.

From Saturday night, the northeast monsoon will possibly begin affecting northern Vietnam, with further strengthening expected on Monday and Tuesday next week, leading to cooler night-time and early morning temperatures, and even cold conditions in mountainous areas.

Between Sunday and next Wednesday, some central provinces from Ha Tinh to Quang Ngai may experience moderate to heavy rain and thunderstorms.

The national weather center emphasized that these forecasts will be refined as new data becomes available, urging the public to closely monitor short-term weather bulletins to prepare production and safety measures accordingly.

Between October 11 and November 10, forecasters expect two to three storms or tropical depressions to appear over the East Vietnam Sea, with one or two potentially impacting Vietnam, a figure higher than the annual average.

So far this year, the East Vietnam Sea has seen 11 storms and four tropical depressions, six of which directly or indirectly affected Vietnam.

From September 11 to October 10, four storms developed in the maritime region, including Mitag (storm No. 8), Ragasa (storm No. 9), Bualoi (storm No. 10), and Matmo (storm No. 11).

Bualoi and Matmo both hit northern and north-central Vietnam, bringing record rainfall and widespread flooding.

Storm Bualoi left 56 people dead, 11 others missing and damaged or destroyed nearly 179,000 homes, as well as flooded 67,000 houses, with total economic losses estimated at VND18.8 trillion (US$714 million).

Storm Matmo, which struck shortly after, left 16 dead, two missing, damaged nearly 1,600 homes, and flooded 230,000 others, with estimated damages of VND8.7 trillion ($330 million).