Philippine death toll rises as new storms brew

MANILA, Philippines — Flood victims trudged through ankle-deep sludge to crowded relief centers in the Philippines on Tuesday, as the death toll rose to 246 from water that inundated the homes of nearly 2 million people.

Tropical Storm Ketsana brought the worst flooding to the Southeast Asian country in four decades, chasing some victims to their rooftops to escape the rising water and sweeping others down raging rivers.

The storm struck Saturday in Manila, one of the world's largest cities with about 12 million people, and dumped more than a month's worth of rain in just 12 hours. Flooding was worst around the Pasig River that cuts through the capital, including wealthy suburbs and shanty towns.

The presidential palace was opened as a relief center, and President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's executive chef cooked gourmet food for victims at another shelter.

Ketsana strengthened and crashed into central Vietnam on Tuesday, killing at least 23 people who drowned, were caught in mudslides or hit by falling trees, officials said. Some 170,000 people were evacuated.

"The rivers are rising, and many homes are flooded, and several mountainous districts have been isolated by mudslides," said Nguyen Minh Tuan, a provincial disaster official in Vietnam.

The storm weakened as it moved inland and approached Laos, but rivers were still rising and more rain was forecast for the region Wednesday.

In the Philippines, where at least 38 people remained missing and more rain was forecast, some of the displaced families recalled their ordeal from a covered court in the town center where they sought shelter.

"What happened was the water suddenly rose. We did not know that the water would reach the second floor, so we went up to the roof but the roof gave in, so we just floated in the water holding on to a trunk of a banana tree," said Herminio Abahat, whose wife is still missing.

Abahat said he and his wife were swept to a river and eventually separated by the raging currents.

Thick, gooey mud lay in the streets in some places, while others were still under a foot or two of water. But the main downtown business and tourist district was largely unscathed.

In Marikina, a suburban district of the capital, police used forklifts to remove mud-caked cars stalled along the road. Elsewhere, people used shovels and brooms to muck brown mud from their homes and businesses, some of which were inundated up to the second floor.