Typhoon Kalmaegi churned across Vietnam early Friday, claiming five more lives after its devastating passage through the Philippines where the death toll rose to 188.

Kalmaegi had unleashed record rains and flooding in central Philippines this week, sweeping away cars, trucks and shipping containers before lashing Vietnam late Thursday.

"The roof (second floor) of my house was just blown away," said Nguyen Van Tam, 42-year-old fisherman in Vietnam's Gia Lai province, where the storm made landfall packing sustained winds of up to 149 kilometres (92 miles) per hour, according to the environment ministry.

"We were all safe, (but) the typhoon was really terrible, so many trees fallen," he said, adding that his boat had survived intact.

Vietnamese authorities were still assessing the damage

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