Aftermath of Tropical Storm Ketsana - “The rain was heavy and the wind was like crazy,”

DA NANG, Vietnam — Typhoon Ketsana headed west toward Laos on Wednesday after battering central Vietnam with powerful winds and heavy rain, leaving behind blue and sunny skies but dangerously rising floodwaters. The official death toll in Vietnam was placed at 41, but officials said that number was expected to rise as more reports came in and as the floodwaters threatened further destruction.

Typhoon Ketsana headed west toward Laos on Wednesday after battering central Vietnam with powerful winds and heavy rain, leaving behind blue and sunny skies but dangerously rising floodwaters. At left, much of Danang was under water on Wednesday.

Photo: Reuters

A woman looked at flooding from the bow of a boat on Wednesday in the preserved town of Hoi An, which is popular with tourists. The floods could reach the historic highs of 1964, a relief and disaster mitigation coordinator said.

Photo: Julian Abram Wainwright/European Pressphoto Agency

A man tried to get in his flooded house in Hoi An. Flooding receded Wednesday there and in the ancient capital of Hue.

Photo: Hoang Dinh Nam/Agence France-Presse -- Getty Images

The Philippine government appealed for international help as the death toll rose to at least 240 due to floods caused by Typhoon Ketsana. A woman washed clothes recovered from her house, which was destroyed, in the town of Pilila Rizal, east of Manila, on Monday.

Photo: John Javellana/Reuters

Inside a morgue in the town of Tanay, Rizal, east of Manila, a relative reacted after confirming the identity of a loved one killed by the floods.

Photo: John Javellana/Reuters

Children slept at a makeshift evacuation center in Cantas on the outskirts of Manila on Monday.

Photo: Mike Clarke/Agence France-Presse -- Getty Images