Vietnam braces for yet another storm

Nangka made its appearance a day after Storm Linfa made landfall in central Vietnam on Sunday morning.

As of 1 p.m., Nangka lay about 430 km to the east-northeast of Vietnam’s Paracel Islands, with a maximum wind speed of 75 kph, according to the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting.

Within the next 24 hours, the storm is expected to move west-northwest at about 20 kph and grow stronger. By 1 p.m. Tuesday, the storm’s center is expected to be above the eastern area of China’s Hainan Island, with a maximum wind speed of 100 kph.

By 1 p.m. Wednesday, its center is expected to be above waters off northern and north-central Vietnam, with a maximum wind speed of 100 kph.

Nangka is expected to cause strong winds in several areas of the East Sea within the next 24 hours, the center said.

The Hong Kong Observatory and the Japan Meteorological Agency have made similar predictions, that Nangka would move west-northwest, and the storm’s center would be above sea regions in northern and north-central Vietnam at around 1 p.m. Wednesday, but with a maximum wind speed of 83-85 kph.

Nangka is the seventh storm to form on the South China Sea, which Vietnam calls the East Sea, this year.

The sixth, Storm Linfa, grew from tropical turbulence that, combined with a cold spell, had caused heavy rains that triggered floods and landslides in central Vietnam, where at least 21 people have been confirmed dead and 14 others missing.

After making landfall Sunday morning, Linfa quickly reverted back into a tropical depression.

Natural disasters, mostly floods and landslides triggered by storms, killed 132 people and injured 207 others in Vietnam last year.