Vietnam gets ready for 'strongest storm in a decade'
Typhoon Doksuri, which officials predict to be the most powerful storm in a decade, is on its way to Vietnam, forcing tens of thousands of people to evacuate its central coastal area.
The deadly storm, which swept through the Philippines on Tuesday as Tropical Depression Maring, has strengthened to a severe tropical storm with a speed of up to 115 kilometers per hour.
Doksuri is expected to make landfall in central Vietnam on Friday at around midday packed with heavy winds and rain, media reported on Thursday.
Officials ordered an offshore fishing ban, while some 47,000 people in Ha Tinh province began leaving their homes on Thursday, according to an official from the Vietnam Disaster Management Authority.
The storm is forecast to lash four central provinces with heavy rains and winds of up to 155 kilometers per hour.
Panicked residents fortified their homes and hauled boats in from the water on Thursday.
"We have prepared sandbags to put on the roof so when the storm arrives it won't be blown off," Nguyen Thi Que, a resident of Ha Tinh province, said on state-controlled news site Zing.
Further evacuations are expected in neighboring Quang Binh, Nghe An and Quang Tri provinces.
"(We) have to evacuate people resolutely, even forcefully... to avoid any casualties when the storm arrives," Vietnam's Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung said Thursday.
Vietnam issued a category four "danger" warning, the second most severe of its five-tier warning system, as disaster management officials said it will be the worst storm to hit Vietnam in 10 years.
The government said it had 250,000 soldiers on standby along with a fleet of vehicles and boats at the ready.
Vietnam has already been hit by severe weather this year, with 140 people dead or missing in natural disasters since January, according to official figures. Around 235 people were reported dead and missing last year due to flooding and bad weather in the country. Authorities estimated the losses at $1.7 billion.
The Southeast Asian nation is routinely hit by tropical storms from around May to October, with its central coast most frequently affected.
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