Mail from a friend

I wanted to make sure my friend in Nagoya was OK on the count of the typhoon that recently hit there, so I sent her an e-mail. She responded:

私ゎ大丈夫
だけどニュースみてると亡くなった人多いみたい

今の台風ゎ名古屋市でもいっぱぃ雨降ったからね

もういないけど

I want to say back to her something like "It is good (I am glad) your ok, but it is terrible news hearing people have died.."

I'm thinking of saying back to her:

そうか
（○○は大丈夫だって）よかった。
だけど、ニュースはとても大変ね。

Should I include the part in the parentheses? Or should I say the whole message differently all together?

無事でよかったです！ instead of the 大丈夫 bit

そっか/そうなんだ would be more appropriate than そうか. そうか sounds like male words to me.

my attempt

そっか
でも○○が無事でよかった
ニュースは大変そうだけどね