North East Sea tropical depression strengthens into storm

Map of the path of Typhoon CHABA at sea (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) - A tropical depression to the north ofthe East Sea has strengthened into a storm, thefirst hitting the waters this year, according to the National Center forHydro-Meteorological Forecasting (NCHMF).

At 7am on June 30, the eye of the storm, internationally named CHABA, was  about 430km from Vietnam's Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelago. The strongest wind near itseye was 62-74 km per hour.

The storm is forecast to mostly move northwest at a speed of 10-15km per hour between July 1 and 3.

By 7am on July 3, the storm is predicted to see the strongestwind close to its eye reaching level 9 (75-88km per hour), with gusts atlevel 12.

By 7am on July 4, it will change its direction to movenorth-northwest with a speed of about 5-10 km, with the intensity tending toweaken./.

VNA