Officials estimate that 375,000 people were forced to abandon their homes and take refuge in evacuation centers due to the inundations.

The storm also destroyed more than 180,000 tons of rice crop. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo described the typhoon as "an extreme event that has strained our response capabilities to the limit."

The Philippine government declared a “state of calamity” for metropolitan Manila and other parts of Luzon Island, as well as Mindoro Island to the south.

The storm then intensified to a Category 2 cyclone as it took aim on Vietnam while passing over the South China Sea.

Despite efforts to evacuate nearly 360,000 coastal residents, Ketsana killed at least 38 people as it slammed into central Vietnam near the port of Da Nang.

Just to the north in Hue, an astounding 50 inches of rainfall brought the Tra Bong River to above the historic peak level reached during severe flooding in 1964.

Ketsana weakened over the interior of Vietnam, but managed to trigger flooding in southern Laos and Cambodia that killed at least nine people.

Disaster officials in Cambodia’s Kampong Thom province said the storm toppled dozens of shacks, leaving nearly 30 people injured.

Typhoon Ketsana Track

Satellite Loop Data: CIMSS