By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter
Rain is expected today with frequent thunder and lightning storms although power of a small-size typhoon lost strength off the West Coast, the Korea Metrological Administration (KMA) reported.
It also predicted 10-150 millimeters of rain will continue till noon today across the country and alerted people of landslides, flooded farm lands and collapse of facilities and houses following the typhoon.
The typhoon named ``Kalmaegi,'' which was 340 kilometers southwest of the peninsula as of Sunday 11 a.m., rushed to the peninsula at a speed of 31 kilometers per hour, prompting the weather agency to issue a wind and rain warning and a warning to shipping off the south and west coasts.
But it significantly lost steam at around Sunday 6 p.m. to become a tropical storm but strong rain and wind gusts would continue for a while, the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) said.
The typhoon poured heavy rain throughout the country.
More than 70 millimeters of rainfall hit Seoul, Gyeonggi and Gandwon Province for only seven hours, KMA said. The rainfall in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, recorded the highest with 94.5 millimeters, followed by Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province, with 80, and Seongbuk in Northern Seoul with 79.5 millimeters, respectively.
In the southern part of the peninsula, Cheongju, north Chungcheong Province, was the hardest hit with 198 millimeters Saturday, followed by Yongju in North Gyeongsang Province with 112 millimeters and Seosan in South Chungcheong Province with 108 millimeters.
Repair work has been under way to repair several roads and facilities and inundated farmland due to the heavy rain.
On Saturday afternoon, a 10-year-old child went missing in Gyeonggi Province after being swept by swelling stream.
On Sunday noon, emergency services rescued 10 people, who were isolated from the land for about one hours due to suddenly swelling river.
Part of a highway passing Chuncheon in Gangwon Province and a road in Hwacheon in Gangwon Privince were blocked by landslides, at 10 a.m. and 6:30 a.m. respectively, said the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).
A stream in Seoul was overflowed on Sunday morning.