Super typhoon Goni, with its maximum winds of over 200 kilometers per hour (kph), is entering the East Sea and forecast to weaken ahead of making landfall in central Vietnam, according to the National Center of Hydro-meteorological and Forecasting of Vietnam (NCHMF).

Goni has intensified into the strongest storm so far this year and is heading for the central region of Vietnam, in a path similar to storm Molave that has killed dozens of people and damaged homes and crops in the country.

Goni is forecast to hit storm-weary Vietnam on November 4. Photo: NCHMF

Goni’s winds reached 249 kilometers per hour on October 31, before weakening slightly as it approaches the east of the Philippines, the NCHMF said, adding that the storm was traveling in the waters east of the Philippines. At 7:00am on Saturday, the center of the super typhoon was about 810 kilometers east of the Luzon island.

On November 2 morning, the storm eye is forecast at 750km away from the Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelago. Its intensity will decrease significantly after sweeping across the Philippines.

Ms. Le Thi Xuan Lan, former deputy head of the Forecast Department under Southern Vietnam Hydrometeorology Station, told Zing that when approaching the East Sea with a speed of 15-20 kph, typhoon Goni would keep weakening.

After passing through the Hoang Sa archipelago on November 3, the storm may change its course a bit due to the impact of a cold spell moving southward and threaten Danang city on November 4 instead of Quang Binh province as predicted earlier, Ms. Lan added.

Meteorologists said that the storm will cause heavy rains in the provinces from Danang to Quang Ngai. After that, storm circulation interacting with cold air could continue to cause torrential rain in provinces in north central Vietnam on November 5-6.

The experts also said that as the storm is still far, there is a margin of error, and the movement of Goni is very complicated due to the impacts of different weather patterns. People need to continuously update the storm's developments in the coming days, the center advised.

During the past month, Vietnam has been devastated by four consecutive tropical storms, causing severe flooding in the central region. Flashflood and landslides have so far left at least 230 people dead and dozens missing.