A tropical depression has strengthened into a storm named Etau and is moving westwards to central and south central provinces, according to the National Center for Hydro-meteoroltogy Forecasting. 

The projected path of storm Etau

At 7:00 am on Monday, the eye of the newly-formed storm was at around 450km offshore the coast of Binh Dinh and Ninh Thuan, packing wind of up to 75 kph.

The storm is moving westwards at speed of 15-20km per hour and likely to gain strength. It is forecast to reach the central coast early Tuesday before weakening to a tropical depression and then a low-pressure zone.

Etau coupled with a cold spell is forecast to bring heavy to intense rains to localities from Quang Tri to Khanh Hoa from November 9-11.

The circulation of storm Etau in combination with a cold air mass is expected to bring average rainfall of 200-400 mm in provinces from Quang Tri to Khanh Hoa and 100-200 mm in the southern part of Khanh Hoa and Central Highlands Region.

The Central Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control said that the local authorities of the south central coast planned to evacuate 103,644 households with 403,426 coastal residents and reinforce 1.8-km sea dikes.

The central region was battered by torrential rains, widespread flooding and landslides triggered by four storms since early October.

At least 235 people have been killed or are missing and almost 390,000 houses were submerged, reported the Viet Nam Disaster Management Authority./.

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