South-east Asia - Ketsana aftermath

Rescue efforts continue as storm toll hits 312

Article published on the 2009-09-30 Latest update 2009-09-30 11:31 TU

Residents are evacuated on a flooded street in Vietnam's central city of Hoi An Wednesday
(Photo: Reuters)

Typhoon Ketsana extended its destructive rampage through south-east Asia Wednesday, blowing away whole villages in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, as the regional death toll rose to 312.

The storm has unleashed some of the worst flooding in a decade and left governments struggling to help more than two million people who are either homeless or in urgent need of supplies.

Landslides buried homes and rising waters threatened ancient world heritage sites as the storm finally moved inland towards Laos and weakened to a tropical depression.

Ketsana killed 246 people in the Philippines over the weekend, while still a weaker tropical storm, before strengthening into a typhoon and smashing into central Vietnam on Tuesday, leaving another 55 dead.

It lashed Cambodia overnight, killing 11 more people. Authorities said the homes of thousands of people had been evacuated as the storm packed winds of up to 145 kilometres an hour.

"At least nine people were crushed last night when their houses fell down," said Chea Cheat, chief of the Red Cross office in central Kampong Thom province.

Vietnam's flood and storm control committee listed 11 missing, while those killed included 13 in the mountainous Kon Tum province and 14 in central Quang Ngai province, where the typhoon made landfall.

The Vietnamese tourist town of Hoi An, a Unesco world heritage site, was under three metres of water. Six coastal provinces had been evacuated, involving 168,585 people.

Meanwhile there were warnings that another looming typhoon may add to the devastation. Typhoon Parma, east of the Philippines, is on course to hit the country on Thursday or Friday.