A strong tropical storm blew ashore in South Korea on Thursday morning, dumping heavy rain and pummeling its southern regions after thousands of people were evacuated.
More than 30 centimeters (a foot) of rain has fallen already in parts of the mainland and some streets were flooded.
Khanun will pound the country with intense rains and winds while slowly moving up the Korean Peninsula for hours, with its eye brushing the densely populated Seoul metropolitan area where half of South Korea’s 51 million people live. The Korean Meteorological Administration said the storm will weaken as it moves into North Korea early Friday but the greater Seoul area would still feel its force until Friday afternoon.
Khanun made landfall around 9:30 a.m. in the southwest near the port city of Geoje, with maximum winds blowing at 129 kph (80 mph) while moving north at 25 kph (15.5 mph). The KMA classified it as a typhoon, but the U.S., Japan and others measured Khanun with slightly weaker winds and classified it as a tropical storm.
In coastal Busan, South Korea's second-largest city, winds were blowing at 126 kph (78 mph) and emergency workers dressed in orange rain gear were clearing uprooted trees that collapsed over roads and responding to broken fences and other damage. A flooded motorway in the Guseo district was closed, while pedestrians struggled with umbrellas while walking through ankle-high waters in the Jung-gu district.
The storm since Wednesday dumped more than 30 centimeters (12 inches) of rain in the southern mainland cities of Changwon and Yangsan. Workers in Changwon were sealing off several motorways and streets affected by flooding and landslides and also establishing flood shields at a major seafood market.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has called for officials to be aggressive with disaster prevention measures and evacuations while stressing the perils posed by the storm, which comes just weeks after rains caused floods and landslides that killed at least 47 people.
Ahead of Khanun, more than 10,000 people, mostly in southern regions, were ordered to evacuate their homes as of Thursday morning, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety said. Around 340 flights were grounded and nearly 400 motorways were shut. Ferry services were halted while more than 60,000 fishing vessels evacuated to port. Authorities advised schools to take the day off or delay their opening hours, and warned of potential flooding, landslides and huge waves.
Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min ordered officials to tightly restrict access to riverside trails, low-lying coastal roads and underpass tunnels and to swiftly evacuate basement-level homes or houses near mountains in at-risk areas.
“If the storm penetrates the country as forecasters predict, not one region will be safe,” Lee said.
No storm-related deaths or injuries have been reported yet.
Khanun has meandered around southern Japanese islands for more than a week, causing injuries on Okinawa and Kyushu islands, knocking out power and disrupting transit.
Up to 30 centimeters (12 inches) of rainfall is expected in Kyushu and the nearby island of Shikoku through Thursday evening, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency, which warned residents against mudslides, flooding and high winds.
Kim reported from Seoul, South Korea.
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2 Comments
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Christopher Mas Osan
Pyeongtaek/Osan. We are being pounded by rain. Its going to get sketchy here soon.
Speed
It looks like ALL of Asia has the let's-walk-through-the-typhoon-with-our umbrellas-open-while-so-they-get-annihilated-by-it disease.