Haishen slams S. Korea after starting Japan landslides
SOKCHO: A powerful typhoon lashed South Korea after smashing into southern Japan with record winds and heavy rains that left up to eight people dead or missing.
More than 300,000 households were still without power yesterday afternoon after Typhoon Haishen roared past Japan’s southern island of Kyushu, ripping off roofs and dumping 0.5m of water in a day.
Rescue workers were picking through mud and detritus seeking four missing people after a landslide in rural Miyazaki.
Dozens of police officers were on their way to help, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said 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.
Haishen, which came on the heels of another powerful typhoon, crashed into Okinawa on Saturday and moved northwards throughout Sunday.
Around 1.8 million people were told to seek shelter for fear that the 200kph winds would wreak havoc on Japan’s wooden housing stock.
By lunchtime yesterday, the storm had moved over South Korea, forcing the cancellation of hundreds of flights and triggering landslides.
Traffic lights and trees were felled in and around Busan, streets were flooded and power was knocked out for around 20,000 homes across the country.
The typhoon cut electricity to Hyundai Motor’s assembly lines in the city of Ulsan, bringing production to a halt for several hours.
Haishen churned its way up the eastern side of the peninsula into the Sea of Japan, known as the East Sea in Korea, having lost some of its destructive force, but still packing winds of up to 112kph.
The streets of the port city of Sokcho were largely empty, but some residents braved the rain and wind to take photos and marvel at the swell crashing into the harbour wall.