At least 10 people have been killed in the Philippines by a typhoon which hit the north of the country on Monday.

本周一一股台风袭击菲律宾北部地区，至少10人死亡。

Officials say the toll¹ could rise; communications links are down and the full extent of damage is not known.

Typhoon Megi was the strongest to hit the Philippines for several years and caused significant damage, tearing the roofs off houses and cutting power.

It has now passed over the main island, Luzon, and is heading towards the southern coast of China.

Floods in Vietnam have swept travellers away and flooded thousands of homes, killing² at least 31 people, with 23 people missing.

Flash floods have also hit northern Thailand's Nakhon Ratchasima province.

Forecasters say the typhoon is now heading towards southern China, where heavy weather is predicted by the weekend.

On the southern Chinese island of Hainan, the rain prompted more than 100,000 people to leave their homes over the weekend.

Philippines prepared?

Four people were killed on Monday in Pangasinan province, north of the capital, Manila - three were a mother and her children crushed in their house by a falling tree.

The fourth person was killed by lightning, a national Red Cross spokesman Alex Rosete said.

A storm surge at the coastal³ town of Maconacon in Isabela province, further north, drowned three more people, the provincial⁴ governor Faustino Dy said.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council had earlier reported three people killed elsewhere in the north of Luzon, the Philippines' main island, but the details remain unclear.

Typhoon Megi was the strongest to hit the country in four years, with its full force directed at the northern coastal provinces and the Cagayan valley.

It was a category five super typhoon with winds in excess of 250 km/h (155 mph) when it hit the east coast of north Luzon shortly before noon on Monday.

The agriculture department has estimated that at least 10% of the region's rice crop had been damaged.

However, aid officials are hoping the human cost will stay low, and crediting a rare degree of preparedness, including evacuations（疏散，撤离） , for the relatively⁵ low toll.