Typhoon Lekima heading towards Vietnam
Tropical storm Lekima was upgraded to a typhoon yesterday afternoon and is heading towards the coastline of Vietnam.
Lekima, named after a fruit in Vietnam is currently moving west-northwest and is expected to enter the Beibu Bay area this morning. By Thursday it is expected to make landfall north of Da Nang in Vietnam as a category 1 typhoon. Lekima is currently packing winds of 74 mph (119 km/h).
Disaster officials have begun evacuating around 400, 000 people as the storm approached the Vietnamese coast, while 100,000 people were evacuated in Hainan with more than 20,000 fishing boats recalled back to the harbour.
At least 9 people were killed in the Philippines on Sunday from floods and landslides as the storm passed by. Apart from very strong winds, Lekima is expected to bring some very heavy rain to parts of Vietnam, and authorities warn of flash floods and landslides.
Meanwhile, nearby in the Philippine Sea, tropical storm Krosa intensified into a typhoon and is continuing its journey northwestwards towards Taiwan. Forecasters expect no direct impact on any landmass at this stage but the situation may change.
Late last month, around 2.7 million people were evacuated from around the Shanghai area of China’s east coast as a precaution against Typhoon Wipha.
