Entering the East Sea last night, October 18, mega storm Megi reached the 15th grade. The storm is forecast to go through the Hoang Sa archipelago (Paracel), where there are many Vietnamese fishing boats. Entering the East Sea last night, October 18, mega storm Megi reached the 15th grade, one grade up over October 17. The storm is forecast to go through the Hoang Sa archipelago (Paracel), where there are many Vietnamese fishing boats.

The National Centre for Hydrometeorological Forecast said that Megi was east of the East Sea and it moved at the speed of 10-15km per hour and the wind speed of 150-183km per hours at 7am this morning, October 19.

The storm will move to the west, at the same speed. By 7pm, October 20, it will be around 400km to the east of the Hoang Sa archipelago, at 14-15th grade. After that, it will move to the west-northwest at the speed of 10km per hour.

As a mega storm, Megi’s coverage will be very wide. From the storm eye, the dangerous area with strong wind has a radius of 200km.

From tonight, the wind will get stronger from the 8th to 11th grade in Hoang Sa archipelago.

According to the National Committee for Search and Rescue, 12 fishing boats of Quang Ngai province, with 174 fishermen are still working in Hoang Sa archipelago. In addition, there are over 350 ships and nearly 4,000 fishermen in Truong Sa archipelago (Spratly).

At an urgent meeting on October 18, Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai asked coastal provinces from Quang Ninh to Khanh Hoa to call for their fishing boats to return home or to seek shelter.

He also asked provinces to be ready to cope with storm Megi by preparing cookings, water, strengthen houses, schools, hospitals, etc. and having plans to evacuate people in the areas in danger.

As the strongest storm in the Pacific in the last 20 years, Megi killed at least ten people in the Philippines when it hit this country last night.

In Vietnam, the strongest typhoon in the last 10 years was Xangsane in 2006, which killed over 60 people and damaged more than 200,000 houses, 800 boats, causing the total loss of at least 10 trillion dong.

PV