Thousands of people were forced to evacuate in South Korea as Typhoon Hinnamnor made landfall in the country's southern regions on Tuesday, unleashing fierce rains and winds that destroyed trees and roads, and left more than 20,000 homes without power.
There was also greater public awareness about the storm and its risks. Typhoon Hinnamnor made impact just weeks after heavy rain around the capital, Seoul, caused flooding that killed at least 14 people.
Government officials put the nation on high alert for days as Hinnamnor approached, warning of potentially historic destruction and putting in motion life-saving measures.
After grazing the resort island of Jeju and hitting the mainland near the port city of Busan, Hinnamnor weakened as it blew into waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan.
South Korea’s weather agency said Hinnamnor was over the open sea 400 kilometers (248 miles) northwest of the northern Japanese city of Sapporo as of 9 p.m. and had weakened to a tropical storm.
However, the damage was still severe in the southern city of Pohang, where five people were found dead and at least five others were missing after the storm submerged roads and buildings, triggered landslides and flooded a shopping mall.
Firefighters navigated flooded neighborhoods in rubber boats, rescuing people and their pets. Merchants scrambled to salvage furniture and other belongings at the famous Guryongpo outdoor market, where workers deployed excavators to clear huge piles of debris.
The rain and flooding eroded the foundations of bridges and motorways, which were often broken in chunks or blocked by fallen trees and electricity poles. Factory buildings were tilted, while a shipping container blew away and landed above cars in a parking lot.
“I woke up at 5 a.m. at because of the explosive rain, and I got really concerned because the water rose right up to my doorway,” Kim Seong-chang, a Pohang resident, said in an interview with JTBC. “The water was still thigh-high at 7 a.m. and those who parked their cars in the streets were in panic because their vehicles were submerged. … Other residents were bucketing out water from their homes.”
The storm dumped more than 105 centimeters (41 inches) of rain in central Jeju since Sunday, where winds peaked at 155 kph (96 mph). Southern and eastern mainland regions also had damage — knocked-off signboards and roofing, toppled trees and traffic signs, and destroyed roads.
In Pohang, a woman in her 70s died after being swept away in flash floods, while four others were found dead in a submerged basement parking lot, where the search was continuing for five people.
Wading in the parking lot’s neck-high waters with ropes tied to their bodies, emergency workers on Tuesday night managed to pull out two people who had been trapped. President Yoon Suk Yeol issued a congratulatory message after the first survivor’s rescue, calling it a “miracle.”
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