Typhoon Haishen swept Japan, threatening South
Korea
Typhoon Haishen headed for South Korea today
after it made landfall in southern Japan with
record strong winds and heavy rain.
The Korean weather forecasting agency said
the storm with winds of up to 144 km / h is
heading north to Busan, South Korea's second
largest city.
Strong winds forced the government to power
off nearly 5,000 households in the southernmost
tip of Korea, including Jeju Island, where
more than 473 mm of rain has been recorded
since September 5.
Authorities had to evacuate nearly 1,000 people,
while more than 300 flights at 10 airports
had to be canceled.
South Korea's Ministry of Safety said some
services to visit national parks and railways
had to be shut down.
Previously, Typhoon Haishen swept southern
Japan with record winds, up to 216 km / h,
prompting the authorities to issue a warning
that hurricane winds could overthrow cars
and break electric poles.
Authorities yesterday recommended the evacuation
of more than 7 million people, and asked residents
to avoid crowding at the evacuation site to
reduce the risk of COV infection.
However, Japan this morning rated Typhoon
Haishen caused less damage than expected,
despite causing power outages in hundreds
of thousands of households on the island of
Kyushu, southern Japan.
At 7:00 a.m. this morning, the storm was about
30 kilometers north of Tsushima Island after
weakening last night.
According to Japan's national television station,
several dozen people were slightly injured
by the storm, most of them the elderly who
fell.
In the Goto Islands in Nagasaki Prefecture,
four people were injured by shards of glass
from broken windows in an evacuation center.
The Kyushu Electric Power Company this morning
said about 476,000 households lost electricity,
raising fears of heat shock due to the lack
of air conditioning.
The hurricane affected traffic, disrupting
hundreds of flights and rail service, but
according to a damage assessment this morning,
air and rail journeys were expected to resume
soon.
Japan's typhoon season typically lasts until
October and Haishen is the second most powerful
storm to pass through the area in recent weeks.
It came after Maysak, the storm also hitting
Japan before moving to South Korea and North
Korea, where heavy damage was reported.
Korean media over the weekend reported that
Kim Jong-un leader went to check and asked
12,000 party members to participate in overcoming
the consequences of the disaster.
Typhoon Maysak also sank a cargo ship with
43 sailors and nearly 6,000 cows off the coast
of western Japan.
The Japanese Coast Guard found two survivors
and one dead before Typhoon Haishen struck,
forcing them to stop searching.
"We are assessing the situation to see when
the rescue operation can be resumed," said
a Japanese Coast Guard officer today.
