The state weather bureau warned that the worst may not be over, as typhoon Melor, lying some 2,000 kilometres to the east in the Pacific Ocean, may suck Parma back to the country.

"It is possible that it (Parma) will make U-turn and will hit Luzon again," forecaster Nathaniel Cruz said, adding that Parma was already "interacting" with Melor, preventing it from moving farther out to sea.

The toll in Vietnam from Ketsana jumped to 162 on Sunday with hundreds more injured, an official said, adding urgency to a Red Cross appeal launched to help more than 200,000 storm victims.

Another 13 people remain missing and 616 are injured, said the official from the national flood and storm control committee in Hanoi.

An estimated three million people in Vietnam have been affected by Ketsana, said the Red Cross, which on Friday launched an international appeal for 4.75 million US dollars to help 210,000 of the neediest victims.