A fisherman runs from big waves after securing his boat at a fish port in Bulan, in Sorsogon province, southern Luzon. (Xinhua/AFP Photo) Photo Gallery >>>

    BEIJING, Sept. 30 (Xinhuanet) -- After trampling the Philippines, where it left 61 people dead and 69 missing, Typhoon Xangsane has set its eye on the central Vietnam city of Hue.

    Xangsane (Laotian for elephant) was a Category 3 storm on the five-level Saffir-Simpson scale when it left the Philippines, but has gained energy and is now a Category 4, packing maximum sustained winds of 213 kilometers per hour (132 miles per hour).

    According to the U.S. Navy Joint Typhoon Warning Center in Manila, Xangsane is centered 322 miles east of Hue, is moving west at 17 kph and pushing waves of 8 meters (25 feet).

    Vietnamese officials asked broadcasters yesterday to help alert 522 boats that had yet to return to port after an order for the all members of the country's fishing fleet to return. Preparations for evacuations were under way in Thua Thien-Hue and Binh Dinh provinces.

    Last year, about 50 people were killed when eight typhoons and tropical storms made landfall in Vietnam, Nguyen Tien Toan, a senior official at the National Committee for Flood and Storm Control in Hanoi, said Friday.

    Xangsane ripped into Manila on Thursday, destroying 9,104 homes, knocking down power lines across the main island of Luzon and causing 365.4 million pesos (26.7 million U.S. dollors) in damages to infrastructure and agriculture, the National Disaster Coordinating Council said in a report today.

    Xangsane is the 18th storm of this year's Pacific cyclone season. Enditem

    (Agencies)

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