AUCKLAND, July 5 (AFP) - Killer Typhoon Chata'an, which has already claimed as many as 39 lives, was intensifying late Thursday and heading toward the US territory of Guam and its major military bases, officials said.

Guam, which is home to more than 150,000 people, was placed on Typhoon Condition One -- the highest level -- by the island's Office of Civil Defence late Thursday.

Chata'an -- "rainy" in Guam's Chamorro language -- is heading straight for Rota Island, around 50 kilometres (30 miles) north of Guam and part of the US Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

AUCKLAND, July 5 (AFP) - The death toll rose on Friday as atrocious typhoon weather that has wiped out entire families, made thousands homeless and brought havoc to airlines and electricity grids continued to rage across Asia.

Typhoon Rammasun, which has already left thousands of Okinawans without electricity after cutting power lines this week, claimed at least six victims around China's east coast city of Shanghai on Friday.

Five of the dead were killed when a single-room house packed with migrant workers collapsed during the worst of the storm,