The Meteorological Department has forecast heavy rain nationwide except for the Central Plains as tropical storm Wipha, now near Hainan island, moves into Vietnam, and the strong monsoon continues to prevail in the South.
Director-general Phuwiang Prakhammin said on Thursday that storm Wipha, with wind speeds of 65 kilometres per hour, was moving westward at 20kph.
Wipha was expected to make landfall in upper Vietnam on Friday and cause persistent and heavy rain, with run-off in some areas, in the North and the Northeast.
He said the strong southwesterly monsoon in the Andaman Sea, the South and the Gulf of Thailand would bring heavy rain in the South and the East until next Tuesday.