The most powerful typhoon in 2022 has hit South Korea today. It dumped a meter (3 feet) of rain, destroyed roads, and made landfall. This has caused 66,000 homes without electricity as thousands of people fled to find shelter.
According to news, typhoon Hinnamnor crashed the resort island of Jeju and hit the mainland near the port city of Busan before blowing into the sea between the Korean Peninsula and Japan with winds of up to 133 kilometers (82 miles) per hour.
South Korean officials said that the typhoon left South Korea off the coast of Ulsan in the morning. However, it left an aftermath of destruction. Prime Minister Han Duk-soo called for evacuations in areas at risk of flooding, saying Hinnamnor could end up being a “historically strong typhoon that we never experienced before.”
An elderly woman in her 70s in the southern city of Pohang died after being swept away. Flash floods took her life while she is trying to evacuate. However, authorities have identified at least nine people are missing as of Tuesday afternoon. These include seven people at a submerged subterranean parking lot in Pohang. As a result, the number of fatalities could rise later in the day.
BBC stated that the typhoon has caused trains to be suspended, canceled flights nationwide and businesses and schools to close early and converted to online classes. A POSCO representative said that a power failure caused by the typhoon had led to a byproduct gas release at the company’s Pohang factory.
North Korea on Preparation for Typhoon Hinnamnor
Kim Jong Un, the leader of North Korea, presided over a two-day summit on disaster protection efforts. He released water from a dam close to the country’s border with South Korea as the North prepared for the typhoon damage. South Korea has urged the North on numerous occasions to give a warning before releasing water from the dam. This is due to the fact that it may cause floods downstream. However, Pyongyang has resisted doing so.
Sources: CNA, APNews, BBC, Zoom Earth