More trouble is on the way for storm-weary central Vietnam.
VnExpress reports that Storm Goni entered the East Sea this morning, after battering the Philippines over the weekend, and is currently forecast to impact Vietnam's central coast later this week.
As of 7am today, November 1, Goni had maximum winds of about 75 kilometers per hour and was moving northwest at 20 km/h. The National Center for Hydrometeorological Forecasting expects the storm to continue moving in this direction over the next 24 hours before changing track to the west and slowing down. Landfall should occur somewhere between Da Nang and Phu Yen Province early on Thursday.
On Sunday morning, Goni made landfall in the Philippines as a catastrophic super typhoon with winds of up to 195 miles per hour (310 km/h), according to NPR, making it one of the strongest storms at landfall in history, and the most powerful storm anywhere on the planet this year. Comparisons have been made to Super Typhoon Haiyan, which struck the Philippines in 2013 and killed over 6,000 people.
As of this writing, the death toll from Goni is at least 10, compounding the aftermath of Typhoon Molave, which left 22 dead in the Philippines before wreaking deadly havoc in Vietnam.
Thankfully, Goni is expected to remain weakened before striking Vietnam due to unfavorable conditions over the East Sea, but central provinces need to remain on alert.
The storm is the 10th to threaten Vietnam this typhoon season, and last month alone, four tropical storms and one tropical depression made landfall in the country, killing hundreds and causing widespread flooding and landslides across numerous provinces.
[Image via AccuWeather]
