A powerful typhoon lashed South Korea yesterday after smashing into southern Japan with record winds and heavy rains that left up to eight people dead or missing.
The Korea Meteorological Administration in Seoul said Typhoon Haishen was passing waters off the eastern coastal city of Sokcho yesterday afternoon after barreling through South Korea’s southern and eastern regions.
The typhoon was weakening, with its maximum winds measured at 108kph after blowing at 144kph in the morning, and it was forecast to be downgraded to a tropical storm within 12 hours.
Photo: AP / Yonhap
Cars struggled to navigate flooded roads in Ulsan and other coastal cities such as Busan and Gangneung, while emergency workers scrambled to clean up toppled trees and damaged traffic signs, buildings, and other structures.
The South Korean Ministry of the Interior and Safety said a person in Busan was injured after a car flipped in strong winds, but it did not immediately provide further reports of casualties.
Hundreds of flights in and out of the southern island province of Jeju and across the mainland were canceled.
Photo: AFP
Some bridges and railroad sections were shut down, thousands of fishing boats and other vessels were moved to safety, and more than 1,600 residents in the southern mainland regions were evacuated due to the possibility of landslides and other concerns.
The typhoon cut electricity to Hyundai Motor’s assembly lines in Ulsan, bringing production to a halt for several hours.
Meanwhile, in Japan, more than 300,000 households were still without power yesterday afternoon after Haishen roared past Kyushu, ripping off roofs and dumping half a meter of water in just a day.
Rescue workers were picking through mud and detritus seeking four missing people after a landslide in rural Miyazaki Prefecture.
Dozens of police officers were on their way to help, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters in Tokyo.
At least one person had been killed by the typhoon, he said, with the causes of another three deaths during the storm not immediately known.
Japan’s Fire and Disaster Management Agency said at least 38 people were injured, five of them seriously.
Schools and department stores were closed in Hiroshima and other cities in the country’s southwest.
Haishen, which came on the heels of Typhoon Maysak last week, crashed into Okinawa on Saturday and moved northwards throughout Sunday.
Haishen was forecast to make landfall again in Chongjin, North Korea, at about midnight, the South Korean Meteorological Administration said.
Pyongyang’s state media have been on high alert, carrying live broadcasts of the situation, with one showing a reporter driving through a windy, inundated street in Tongchon, Kangwon Province.
“Now is the time when we must be on our highest alert,” he said, adding that winds were as powerful as 126kph.
State broadcaster Korean Central Television showed flooded streets and trees shaking from the strong gusts.
The North is still reeling from the effects of Maysak, and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un appeared in state media over the weekend inspecting the damage.
He ordered 12,000 ruling party members in Pyongyang to help with recovery efforts, and the official Korean Central News Agency yesterday said that about 300,000 had responded to his call.
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