Perilous Times and Climate Change
Typhoon kills 5 South Koreans
Sangwon Yoon
September 3, 2010 - 12:19PM
AP
The death toll from Typhoon Kompasu, which battered the Korean
peninsula with strong winds and heavy rains, rose to five in South
Korea, an official said Friday.
The typhoon struck Seoul the day before, toppling trees, streetlights
and scaffolding in what was called the strongest storm to hit the
capital area in 15 years.
Powerful gusts knocked over power lines, cutting off electricity to
tens of thousands of homes and forcing airports to cancel or delay more
than 60 international flights, the National Emergency Management Agency
said.
Authorities later resumed service on flights, Seoul subway lines and
five railway routes, emergency officials said.
Streets in Seoul were littered with tree branches. Some parked cars
were wrecked by construction scaffolding knocked over by the storm.
An 80-year-old man died after being hit by a roof tile and a
37-year-old businessman was killed by a falling tree branch on his way
to work. Three other people were also killed in similar typhoon-related
incidents later Thursday, NEMA official Shin Seok-soon said Friday.
Elementary and middle schools in the capital were ordered to delay the
start of classes by two hours, while all public and private
kindergartens were closed on Thursday, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of
Education said.
The storm caused at least 10 billion won ($A9.12 million)) in damage to
a sports stadium in Incheon, west of Seoul, stadium officials said.
Power was out at more than 60,000 homes along South Korea's west coast
before being back on in nearly all residences, officials said.
Kompasu, the Japanese word for "compass," landed on Ganghwa Island,
about 70km west of Seoul before leaving the Korean peninsula on
Thursday, said officials.
The typhoon also caused torrential rains and heavy gusts throughout
North Korea, the country's state media reported. It didn't say whether
there were any fatalities or provide damage estimates.
Last month, floods swamped farmland, houses and public buildings in
North Korea's northwestern city of Sinuiju and adjacent areas and
displaced more than 23,000 people, according to the International
Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
Earlier this week, South Korea's Red Cross offered North Korea relief
aid worth 10 billion won.