Isan gets set for Ketsana

       The Meteorological Department is warning 10 northeastern provinces they will bear the brunt of Typhoon Ketsana,which is moving swiftly towards the coast of Vietnam and is due to hit Thailand tomorrow.
       The provinces bracing for severe weather conditions are Amnat Charoen,Buri Ram, Mukdahan, Nakhon Phanom, Nakhon Ratchasima, Roi Et,Sakon Nakhon, Si Sa Ket, Surin and Ubon Ratchathani.
       The typhoon is moving westward at a speed of 15 kilometres an hour.
       "More rain is likely with isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall," the Meteorological Department said yesterday.
       "People in risk areas along foothills near waterways and in lowland areas should beware of flooding conditions during this period."
       Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department chief Anucha Mokkaves said flood relief officials could handle the coming storm and all provincial agencies had been alerted to monitor the situation closely.
       The Irrigation Department was also discharging water from its reservoirs to prepare for heavy rains, its directorgeneral Chalit Damrongsak said.
       Anont Sanitwong na Ayutthaya, director of the Climate Impact Science and Technology Centre, said Thailand would face heavy rain but not strong winds from Typhoon Ketsana because the storm should ease while it passes over Vietnam and Laos.
       Typhoon Ketsana is now moving away from the Philippines after it devastated many parts of the country. The death toll there has reached 140.
       The Foreign Ministry deputy spokesman said no Thais living in the Philippines had been affected by the typhoon after it hit Manila.
       The Philippines appealed for international help yesterday and warned a new storm could strike this week, with tens of thousands of citizens still displaced from their homes.
       At least 32 people were reported missing, and authorities were still trying to verify scores of unconfirmed deaths,including in hard-hit Manila and nearby Rizal province, where there were reports about 99 more people had died, Defence Secretary Gilbert Teodoro said.
       Tens of thousands of Philippines residents began a massive clean-up of the carnage left by Typhoon Ketsana,which struck on Saturday, bringing the region's worst flooding in 42 years and triggering deadly landslides.
       The extent of the devastation became clearer yesterday with mud-covered communities, cars upended on city streets and huge numbers of villagers without drinking water, food and power.
       Since the storm struck, the govern-ment has declared a "state of calamity"in metropolitan Manila and 25 stormhit provinces, allowing officials to use emergency funds for relief and rescue.
       The homes of more than 450,000 people were inundated. About 115,000 of them were brought to 200 schools,churches and other evacuation shelters,officials said. Troops, police and volunteers have been able to rescue more than 7,900 people, Mr Teodoro said.
       He told a news conference help from foreign governments would ensure the Philippine government could continue its relief work. Government welfare officials have begun focusing on providing food, medicine and other necessities to those in emergency shelters.
       President Gloria Arroyo has said Ketsana and the flooding were "an extreme event" that "strained our response capabilities to the limit but ultimately did not break us".
       The US has donated US$100,000(3.3 million baht) and deployed a military helicopter and five rubber boats manned by about 20 American soldiers from the country's south, where they have been providing counter-terrorism training. The United Nations Children's Fund has also provided food and other aid.
       Officials expected the death toll to rise as rescuers penetrate villages blocked off by floating cars and debris.
       The 42.4cm of rain that swamped metropolitan Manila in just 12 hours on Saturday exceeded the 39.2cm average for all of September, chief government weather forecaster Nathaniel Cruz said.