Storm Kompasu entered Vietnam's waters late Monday and is on its way to the north-central region before making landfall Thursday, weather forecasters said.

At 7 a.m. Tuesday, the storm lay 850 km (530 miles) east-northeast of the Hoang Sa (Paracel) Islands in the East Sea, known internationally as South China Sea with winds of 90-120 kph, according to the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting.

In the next 24 hours, the storm is expected to move fast towards the West at the speed of 25-30 kph and get stronger, it said.

By 7 a.m. on Thursday, the storm is predicted to lay off provinces from Thanh Hoa to Quang Binh with winds of 75 kph.

"The storm will move very fast and has a high probability of directly affecting the south of the northern delta and the central provinces from Thanh Hoa to Thua Thien Hue between October 13 and 15," said Nguyen Van Huong, head of the center's climate forecasting department.

Due to the circulation of the storm in combination with a cold spell, heavy rains will occur, resulting in possible floods on rivers in provinces along the central strip, from Thanh Hoa to Quang Binh.

Explaining the reason why there were three storms and tropical depressions formed in the East Sea within the past 10 days, Huong said an "intertropical convergence zone" has been crossing the central region.

"Such a zone is the cradle of storm formation. In addition, October is normally the time when most storms are formed in the East Sea," he said.

Regarding the reason why the intensity of all the storms hitting Vietnam so far this year is not strong, the meteorological agency said that the Lanina phenomenon is still in effect throughout 2021, making the sea water colder and for that, storms will not have the favorable conditions to grow stronger.

It also predicts that after storm Kompasu, about four to six storms and tropical depressions will appear in the East Sea, and two or three of them are likely to affect Vietnam.

Source: VNE