SEOUL – Typhoon Omais weakened into an extratropical cyclone this morning after making landfall around midnight yesterday, flooding roads and houses and forcing more than 10,000 people to evacuate in southern South Korean cities that lay in its path.
Typhoon warnings issued the previous day were all lifted, but the weather service forecast heavy rains of up to 200mm with strong winds, as well as occasional lightning and thunder, to continue throughout the day in the coastal areas and southern parts of the country, the Yonhap news agency reported.
The season’s first typhoon to hit the country dissipated over the East Sea, bringing heavy downpours for its relatively small size, packing wind gusts of up to 18-19m per second and pressure of 996 hectopascals.
The typhoon dumped 219.5mm of rain on Jeju, 205.5mm in Sacheon, and 184mm in Geoje, both in south Gyeongsang province, and 159mm in Busan.
Firefighters rescued 11 people from flash flooding and no injuries were reported as of early today, according to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, but 10 people were displaced in Tongyeong, south Gyeongsang, and 1,106 people were evacuated amid fears of landslides and flash floods in eastern Busan, Changwon, and South Jeolla Province.
The railway connecting Gwangju and Miryang in south Gyeongsang was cut off after parts of the railway became covered with piles of mud from heavy rainfall early this morning.
Six roads in the provinces of south Gyeongsang and south Jeolla were inundated with flash floods.
Twenty-one shopping quarters in Ulsan and three houses in Tongyeong were flooded. Flash floods swamped an outdoor parking lot in Sacheon, south Gyeongsang. In Ulsan and Busan, 217 homes temporarily lost power.
High winds and heavy downpours forced 86 flights and 70 ferries to stop service. Thousands of boats were anchored at ports nationwide and 450 trails at 18 national parks were closed.
More than 10,000 residents living in landslide-prone areas in eastern Busan, Changwon and Suncheon and Damyang, both in south Jeolla, fled their homes by last night.
The national weather service warned of continuing rains today in southern Korea largely due to a low pressure system approaching the peninsula. – Bernama, August 24, 2021
