By Kim Tae-jong
Typhoon Muifa Monday pounded the country’s western coastal regions for a second day, leaving three dead and two missing, as it moved northward to China, the nation’s emergency control agency said Monday. It lifted all the typhoon warnings late in the evening.
The ninth typhoon of this year swept through the southern parts of the country at a maximum speed of 40 kilometer per hour and quickly made its way along the western coast Monday evening to hit China, the Korea Meteorological Administration said.
Three people were left dead in its wake and two others are still missing, according to the National Emergency Management Agency.
A 75-year-old fisherman was found dead on the island of Wando in South Jeolla Province after disappearing while mooring his ship, Sunday. A 50-year-old woman went missing and was found dead in the southwestern coastal village of Hwasun, Sunday. A 64-year-old man in Busan is unaccounted for after being swept away by stormy seas.
Huge property damage has been reported across the nation. Jeju Island alone suffered 2.6 billion won worth of destruction.
Hundreds of domestic flights and ferries between Jeju Island, Seoul and other cities along the western coast were cancelled until late Monday evening because of the strong winds and torrential rains, according to airport officials.
Dozens of flights connecting Seoul to southern cities such as Gimhae and Ulsan were grounded, and flights departing from Incheon International Airport bound for Chinese cities including Shanghai and Beijing were canceled in the morning due to the typhoon.
Some 200 people are now homeless in the southern coastal regions including South Jeolla Province, South Gyeongsang Province and Jeju Island. Six regions in South Jeolla Province and Jeju Island also reported power failures and several ruined roads.
The typhoon moved toward China’s Liaodong Peninsula, just north of the Korean Peninsula, in the evening and is expected to weaken and become an extratropical cyclone producing anything from cloudiness and mild showers to heavy gales and thunderstorms on Tuesday evening, according to the meteorological office.