Typhoon Xangsane forecast to strike imperial city by noon
11:58 04/03/2009

  Typhoon Xangsane hit central Danang city late lastnight   Typhoon Xangsane, which left at least 61 dead when it hit the Philippines three days ago, is forecast to hit Vietnam central ancient Hue capital by noon, according to a US Navy forecast.

 

Xangsane was 144 miles (232 kilometers) east southeast of the Vietnamese coastal city at 3am local time, moving toward it at about 10 miles (16 kilometers) per hour, according to a report on the Naval Pacific Meteorology and Oceanography Joint Typhoon Warning Center Web site.

 

It will weaken into a “significant tropical cyclone” when it hits land, the forecast said.

Xangsane had sustained winds of 105 miles per hour, making it a Category 2 storm on the five-tier Saffir-Simpson scale, according to forecasters.

 

As of last night, 200,000 people in four central Vietnamese provinces had been evacuated, the biggest such operation in 30 years, Reuters reported.

 

Reuters and Vietnamese newspapers said the typhoon was expected to bring rains that would cause flooding and landslides.

 

Xangsane is the 18th storm of this year's Pacific cyclone season. Last year, about 50 people were killed when eight typhoons and tropical storms made landfall in Vietnam, Nguyen Tien Toan, a senior official at the National Steering Committee for Flood and Storm Prevention in Hanoi, said on Sept. 29.

 

Airports and airlines suspended operations, Reuters said. Still, Xangsane probably won't hit the coffee-growing area of Vietnam, the world's second-largest coffee exporter after Brazil, the report said.

 

Source: Bloomberg

Source : thanhniennews.com