Typhoon Xangsane formed on September 25, 2006, in the western Pacific near the coast of the Philippine Islands. Over the next 36 hours, it grew from a tropical depression (area of low air pressure) to a typhoon. The typhoon crossed the Philippines and was credited for causing 76 deaths there before crossing the South China Sea and coming ashore in central Vietnam on October 1, according to the Agence France-Presse news service. As the storm came ashore in central Vietnam, it packed winds of 148 kilometers per hour (92 miles per hour), causing another six deaths and many injuries. Vietnamese authorities called Typhoon Xangsane the biggest storm to hit the country in several decades.