Tropical storm Linglingstrengthened as it headed toward Vietnam today after killing nearly 360 people in the Philippines, and Vietnamese authorities warned coastal provinces to brace for its impact early next week.
The National Centre for Hydro Meteorology said the strength of Lingling's winds had risen to Force 12 on the Beaufort Scale, or 83 miles per hour, a speed capable of causing extreme damage and sinking large ships.
State-run Voice of Vietnamradio said the Central Committee on Flood and Storm Prevention had urged authorities in 11 central coastal provinces stretching about 1,000 km (600 miles) from Quang Binh to Binh Thuan to stay on high alert.
They were told to take steps to protect people from strong wind, flash floods and landslides. Fishing boats have been ordered not to sail and those at sea back to return to port.
Meteorologists said Linglingcould turn into a strong typhoon but could weaken before it made landfall in central Vietnam on Monday.
Linglingleft a trail of death and destruction in the Philippines with at least 130 bodies so far recovered and 229 people buried under a mudslide and presumed dead.
Floods since August have swamped Vietnam's southern rice growing region, the Mekong Delta, killing at least 366 people, 286 of them children.
A tropical low pressure system brought torrential rain and floods to the central region last month, killing at least 44 people in eight provinces.
Linglingis expected to bring heavy rain to Vietnam's Central Highlands bordering Cambodia and Laos, where harvesting of a new coffee crop has just started to pick up.
Natural disasters in the central region killed more than 730 people in 1999.