Typhoon Kalmaegi kills more than 140 in Philippines

Typhoon Kalmaegi has slammed into central Vietnam's already storm-battered coastline today, packing winds of up to 92 miles (149 kilometers) per hour, after killing more than 140 in the Philippines. The storm is on land in the provinces of Dak Lak and Gia Lai with the strongest sustained winds up to 118-149 kph alongside much stronger gusts. 

Vietnam's Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha urged local authorities to treat Kalmaegi as 'urgent and dangerous' and branded it 'a very abnormal' storm in a statement yesterday. Authorities have ordered thousands to evacuate from coastal communities. Officials pre-emptively knocked on doors and warned people to flee earlier today.

Ten typhoons or tropical storms usually affect Vietnam, directly or offshore, in a given year but Typhoon Kalmaegi is now the 13th this year. Typhoon Kalmaegi has already killed at least 142 people and left another 127 missing after unleashing devastating flooding across the central Philippines, official figures show.

The typhoon is so far the globe's deadliest of this year, according to disaster database EM-DAT. Typhoon Trami, also in the Philippines, was last year's third-deadliest typhoon with 191 fatalities. The Philippines has already reached its average of 20 such storms with Kalmaegi with at least 'three to five more' storms potentially expected by the end of the year. Floodwaters described as 'unprecedented' rushed through Cebu province's towns and cities this week.

It swept away cars, riverside shanties and even massive shipping containers. The National Civil Defense Office on Thursday confirmed 114 deaths though that tally did not include an additional 28 recorded by Cebu provincial authorities. More than 500,000 Filipinos remain displaced.

In Liloan, a town near Cebu City, cars were piled atop each other by floodwaters and roofs torn off buildings as residents attempted to dig out of the mud. Christine Aton's sister Michelle, who has a disability, was among Liloan's fatal victims: she was trapped in her bedroom as the floodwaters rose inside their house.

'We tried to pry open her bedroom door with a kitchen knife and a crowbar but it wouldn't budge. Then the refrigerator started to float', Christine said. 'I opened a window and my father and I swam out. We were crying because we wanted to save my older sister. 'But my father told me we couldn't do anything for her, that all three of us might end up dead.'

Chyros Roa, a 42-year-old father of two, said his family was saved by his dog's barking when water rushed into their home in the early hours which gave them just enough time to reach their roof. 'The current was really strong. We tried to call for rescue, but no one came. We were told the rescuers were swept away by the current,' he said. Earlier today, Filipino President Ferdinand Marcos declared a 'state of national calamity'.

This allows the government to release funding for aid and impose price ceilings on basic necessities. 'Unfortunately, there's another [typhoon] coming with the potential to become an even stronger one,' he said at an afternoon press briefing. Still more than 1,500 kilometers to the country's east, tropical storm Fung-wong is slowly building strength as it heads towards the Philippines' main island of Luzon.

It could reach super typhoon status before it makes landfall on Monday. The rains along Kalmaegi's path were 1.5 times the amount that would typically fall in Cebu for a full November, something that occurs once every 20 years. It is believed the 'highly urbanised' nature of the most-affected communities around Cebu City puts them at greater risk.