The typhoon has not left the Philippines yet after slamming into the country’s eastern coast on the night of December 6, with packed winds of up to 210km per hour, becoming the strongest storm this year.

It claimed the lives of at least 21 people and forced the closure of five airports and many schools and state offices, according to the Philippines National Red Cross.

According to the Vietnam National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecast Centre, at 7:00 am on December 8, Hagupit’s centre was at around 13.1 degrees north latitude and 122.3 degrees east longitude in the central part of the Philippines with winds up to 103-117km per hour.

In the next 24 to 48 hours, the typhoon will mainly move westerly at a maximum speed of 15km per hour.

At 7:00 am on December 10, the storm centre is likely to be at 13.5 degrees north latitude and 115.2 degrees east longitude, about 250km from the Song Tu Tay island of Vietnam’s Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelago.

In addition, a cold front entered north and north-central provinces yesterday, which caused heavy rains and thunderstorms on a large scale in coastal central provinces. Meanwhile, the Gulf of Tonkin experienced level 7 northeast monsoon, gusted up to level 8, with rough seas. Vietnam’s mainland was shouldered by a level 3 northeast monsoon.

The National Steering Committee for Flood Control and Prevention on December 8 sent three teams to the south central, Central Highlands, and southeastern regions to examine local preparations for typhoon Hagupit.

The Central Steering Committee for Flood and Storm Prevention and Control and the National Committee for Search and Rescue sent notices to provinces from Quang Tri to Ca Mau requesting them to stay alert to the powerful typhoon.

They urged them to evacuate residents in low-lying areas, help vessels anchor in safety, and ensure the safety of dykes, irrigation systems and construction sites.

According to Steering Center of Flood and Storm Control of the central and Central Highlands region, the region’s local authorities collaborated with functional forces, instructing 140, 251 fishermen and 32, 451 fish vessels to move to safer places to deal with super storm Hagupit’s complicated direction yesterday.

Local border army forces and fish vessel owners have kept close watch of the location as well as direction of the super storm. Local authorities asked that ships and boats not go out to sea while the weather remains unpredictable.

SGGP/VNA