After killing dozens of people in the Philippines, Typhoon Parma entered the East Sea to become the tenth storm in 2009.

According to the National Centre for Hydrometeorology Forecast Centre, Parma was around 890km East-Northeast of the Hoang Sa Archipelago (Paracel Islands) on the afternoon of October 4. The strongest winds near the eye reached level 11-12 and, at time, up to 13-14.

The typhoon is forecast to move slowly to the Northwest at a speed of 5km per hour and will gain strength to reach level 12 by October 5.

In the next 24-48 hours, Parma may move slowly to the West and West–Southwest at the speed of 5km per hour. The typhoon’s eye will be 780km from the Paracel Islands by the afternoon of October 6.

The Forecast Centre said that, owing to other environment factors like the appearance of Tropical Storm Melor off the coast of the Philippines, the development of Parma may change.

The Central Steering Board for Flood and Storm Control on October 4 urgently asked coastal provinces from Quang Ninh to Quang Ngai to prepare for the new storm.

On October 3, Parma hit the Philippines, causing landslides and floods, killing at least 16 people. Parma hit just eight days after Typhoon Ketsana, which damaged Manila and 25 other provinces in the Philippines, causing the worst floods in the last four decades and killing at least 288 people.

In Vietnam, there were at least 163 people killed by Ketsana as of October 4.

PV