Super Typhoon ‘Megi’ heading for China

After it exited into the South China Sea on Tuesday, Megi stood almost stationary with winds of 108 mph (175 kph). It is expected to regain its strength before its calculated landfall in southern China on Thursday.

Chinese authorities have already evacuated 140,000 people from a coastal province.

The storm could also eventually hit Vietnam, which already is suffering from unrelated flooding that has, so far, killed 41 people.

On Monday, surging currents on Vietnam's flooded main highway swept away a bus along with 19 of its passengers, including a boy who found himself pulled from his mother's grasp.

So far, Megi has killed 10 people, flattened forests in the northern Philippines, and dumped heavy rains on the capital as it heads its next likely targets.

Despite the ferocity with which it struck the Philippines on Monday (with winds of 140 miles (225 kilometers) per hour), initial damage and casualties were light. Philippine officials pointed to massive emergency preparations days ahead of the storm.

As Megi’s first vistim, the Isabela province in the northeast Philippines, withstood the full force of the Typhoon Megi's destruction – as over 8,000 people rode out the typhoon in more solid school buildings, town halls, churches and relatives' homes.