Storm in Philippines killed 10

After 10 Dead in Philippines, Storm Heads to China.

A super typhoon that killed 10 people and flattened forests in the northern Philippines dumped heavy rains on the capital Tuesday as it headed across the sea to menace its next likely targets in southern China.

Typhoon Megi struck the Philippines on Monday with ferocious winds of 140 miles (225 kilometers) per hour, but initial assessments showed relatively light damage and casualties, partly because the storm struck sparsely populated areas. Philippine officials also cited their massive emergency preparations days ahead of the storm.

Food vendor Nesie Callaotit, her husband and two children were hurriedly packing clothes to flee to safety when the wind yanked off half of their tin roof, exposing their house in northeastern Isabela province to pounding rain and the horrifying wind.

They held on to a wooden post for three hours, weeping and praying together, until the chaos eased.

"All of us were in tears," the 40-year-old Callaotit said. "We thought it was our last day together."

After it exited into the South China Sea on Tuesday, Megi was almost stationary packing winds of 108 mph (175 kph) but was forecast to regain strength before its expected landfall in southern China on Thursday. Chinese authorities evacuated 140,000 people from a coastal province.

The storm could also eventually hit Vietnam, which already was suffering from unrelated flooding that has killed 41 people. On Monday, surging currents on Vietnam's flooded main highway swept away a bus and 19 of its passengers, including a boy pulled from his mother's grasp.

Isabela province in the northeast Philippines, Megi's entry point, bore the brunt of the Typhoon Megi's destruction while more than 8,000 people rode out the typhoon in sturdy school buildings, town halls, churches and relatives' homes.

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