HCMC – Vietnam is on high alert as Super Typhoon Noru, one of the four strongest storms in 20 years, is moving towards the central coast of the country.
Noru, which is forecast to be as powerful as Typhoon Xangsane in 2006, Typhoon Ketsana in 2009 and Typhoon Molave in 2020, could leave a trail of destruction, according to the Vietnam weather forecast agency.
The typhoon made landfall off the eastern shore of the Philippine capital Manila on Sunday night, and crossed over Luzon Island. It was forecast to bring wind gusts of up to about 134-166 km per hour.
Today morning, the typhoon would move into the East Sea and become the fourth storm of the year.
By 7:00 p.m. today, the eye of the typhoon would be around 460 km east of Vietnam’s Hoang Sa (Paracel) Islands, with packing winds of 134-149 km per hour.
Noru is forecast to move in the westerly direction at 20-25 km per hour today.
On Tuesday night, the eye of the typhoon could be spotted southwest of Hoang Sa and around 300 km from the coasts of Danang, Quang Nam, Quang Ngai and Binh Dinh provinces.
The National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting has issued a level-four disaster alert (red) in Danang, Quang Nam, Quang Ngai and Binh Dinh, and a level-three alert in other provinces including Quang Tri, Thua Thien-Hue, Phu Yen and KonTum.
In an emergency dispatch issued on Sunday, the Prime Minister ordered the provinces that could be affected by Noru to suspend all non-essential meetings so as to focus on rolling out coping measures, and evacuating residents in high-risk areas, especially along the shore and river mouths.
