Typhoon Haishen hits South Korea after battering Japan
SEOUL/TOKYO: South Korea hunkered down as Typhoon Haishen rolled northwards along the country's east coast yesterday, a day after the powerful storm battered Japan's southern islands, where four people are missing following a landslide.
The storm, packing sustained winds of up to 112kmh, temporarily cut power to more than 75,000 households and displaced some 3,100 people in South Korea after making landfall on the south-eastern tip of the peninsula, according to the Safety Ministry.
At least two people died, two were missing and five others were injured, mostly in southern regions hit by flooding, the ministry said.
The wild weather uprooted trees and caused landslides near apartment buildings on Geoje Island, off the south-eastern tip of the peninsula, local media footage and photos showed.
Two nuclear reactors in the city of Gyeongju, 375km south-east of Seoul, were shut down, according to Yonhap news agency.
More than 340 flights and 114 shipping routes across the country were cancelled, while nearly 6,000 schools switched to remote learning or cut class hours.
But the weather agency eased safety warnings later in the day as the typhoon moved off towards North Korea.
In Japan, the Kyodo news agency reported that four people were missing and more than 50 people were injured in the wake of the typhoon.
The four went missing in a village in the southern prefecture of Miyazaki after a mudslide hit the office of a construction firm, Kyodo said.
North Korea, which bore the brunt of both Typhoon Maysak, which hit several days ago, and Typhoon Bavi a week earlier, was on high alert as the storm approached its south-eastern province of Kangwon yesterday afternoon. - REUTERS
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