As of 7 a.m. on September 19, Ragasa was located at about 1,000 km east of the Philippines’ Luzon Island, packing winds of 62 - 74kph near its centre, with gusts up to 101kph. It was moving northwest at a speed of about 10kph.

Meteorological experts said the typhoon would continue moving in a west-northwest direction at a speed of around 20kph and may intensify further in the coming days.

Ragasa is set to enter the East Sea around September 23, and potentially impact mainland Vietnam between September 24 and 26, they said, adding northern and north-central provinces would experience heavy rain those days.

The experts predicted Ragasa would be an extremely powerful storm, possibly reaching super typhoon status with sea waves exceeding 10m, creating extremely rough seas and posing a severe danger to vessels operating in the northern and central parts of the East Sea.

Sagasa is the ninth storm to hit the East Sea this year. The eighth storm, Mitag, is heading toward China’s Guangdong province and is anticipated to hit the mainland late on September 19.

Though Mitag does not directly impact Vietnam, it will also bring heavy rain to northern provinces on September 20.

Tropical depression strengthens into storm Mitag, heavy rain expected

VOV.VN - A tropical depression in the East Sea strengthened into storm Mitag on September 18, which is forecast to bring widespread heavy rain to northern Vietnam.