Seoul:
A typhoon damaged homes and other buildings, flooded roads and toppled utility poles on Thursday on the Korean Peninsula before weakening to a tropical storm. South Korean authorities said no casualties have been reported, and North Korean state media did not mention any deaths or injuries.
The storm by afternoon was heading into China after passing near the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, South Korea’s weather agency said. During its life as a typhoon, the storm had packed maximum winds of 133 kilometres (83 miles) per hour when it made landfall early Thursday in a western coastal region of North Korea that is a major source of farming and fishing in a nation that deals with chronic food shortages.
The North’s Korea Central TV showed footage of snapped trees and utility poles and flooded roads while also reporting damages to houses and public facilities in North Hwanghae and South Hwanghae provinces, where the typhoon made landfall. Roads were also flooded in the city of Nampo, which is closer to Pyongyang. In South Korea, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety said there was no immediate reports of casualties, despite damage to buildings, walls, roads and other structures.
By afternoon, power had been restored to most of the more than 9,300 South Korean homes that lost it, including more than 3,500 in cities and towns near Seoul and around 900 in the southern resort island of Jeju, which was hit by the typhoon on Wednesday. More than 470 domestic flights in and out of Jeju and the southern mainland city of Busan were canceled. South Korean authorities also halted some railroad services, shut down public parks and sea bridges and moved hundreds of fishing boats and passenger vessels to safety.
Workers in Seoul and other major cities were restoring makeshift coronavirus testing stations that had been dismantled out of concerns that the tents and booths wouldn’t have withstood the strong winds. The North’s official Korean Central News Agency said earlier this week that leader Kim Jong Un had called for thorough preparations to minimize casualties and damages from the typhoon. Fishing boats were moved and other protective measures were taken to help buildings, farms and railroads withstand the storm, according to state media.
The storm comes weeks after torrential rains caused flooding and massive damages to homes and crops in North Korea, inflicting further pain to an economy ravaged by pandemic-linked border closures and US-led sanctions over Kim’s nuclear programme..
