(3rd LD) Typhoon Haishen moves off land through southeastern coastal cities, leaving 1 missing

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SEOUL, Sept. 7 (Yonhap) -- Typhoon Haishen escaped off the eastern coast of Gangneung on Monday afternoon, ripping through the country's eastern seaside cities after making landfall in Ulsan earlier in the day, the weather agency said.

The Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) said the season's 10th typhoon reached waters some 20 kilometers north of Gangneung, Gangwon Province, at 1:30 p.m., bringing pounding rains and high winds in its wake.

With its central pressure at 965 hectopascals and a maximum wind speed of 32 meters per second, Haishen was traveling northward, with rainfall of up to 60 millimeters per hour.

It was forecast to continue to march northward until it arrives at Chongjin, North Korea, at midnight. It is expected to dissipate there.

The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters said Haishen temporarily disrupted power supply to 17,620 houses nationwide. It also destroyed 48 structures around the country, and the tally was expected to go up, as the agency was in the middle of assessing the damage.

A total of 1,640 people, including 1,259 from South and North Gyeongsang provinces, took shelter as a precautionary measure.

A man in his 40s was reported missing at around 11:23 a.m. in Samcheok, Gangwon Province. He was believed to have been swept away in a flooded waterway.

In Ulsan where Haishen made landfall earlier in the day, the typhoon knocked out power at the assembly lines of Hyundai Motors, South Korea's biggest carmaker by sales, at 8:30 a.m, which produces such models as the Genesis G90 and G80. Repair works were being conducted, but the company expected it would take some time before the factory goes fully operational again. Similar power outages were also reported at a factory of Hyundai Mobis Co., the country's biggest auto parts maker. Some 30,000 houses in the city lost power.

From midnight Sunday to 10 a.m. Monday, the city's Ulju county recorded rainfall of 184.5 millimeters. Maximum wind gust of 41.8 meters per second was reported in eastern Ulsan.

In Busan, the typhoon cut off power, toppled trees and snapped a traffic light in its path.

A 57-year-old man in the city was rescued by firefighters early in the morning after an elevator stopped working due to a power outage. A water tank was blown off the top of a house in the western part of the city. No casualties were reported. Another man in his 60s was rescued from his house hit by a landslide. Rescuers took a driver out of his truck to safety, after his vehicle was knocked out by powerful winds on Gwangan Bridge that connects the city's Haeundae and Suyeong wards.

The typhoon unleashed torrential rains and triggered a landslide near a tunnel on the road connecting the city with Changwon. Also, 23 riverside and oceanfront roads have been closed as a safety measure against flooding.

Two turbine generators at the Wolsong Nuclear Power Plant, in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, stopped operation, after the typhoon disrupted power supply. No radiation was leaked, according to the Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co., Ltd.

"It is highly likely that the typhoon will weaken as it passes by the country due to the southern sea's relatively cool temperature of less than 27 C, coupled with cool air in the upper atmosphere and strong wind," a KMA official said, forecasting it to be downgraded to an extratropical cyclone within 24 hours.

A typhoon alert has been issued for the southern resort island of Jeju, Gyeongsang Province, and parts of Gangwon and the central provinces, and they will be lifted at 4 p.m. A typhoon advisory was in effect for the rest of the country as of 8 a.m.

On Monday afternoon, trains running between Busan and nearby cities began their services, and flights slowly resumed operation as the typhoon moved off the Korean Peninsula. In the morning, 298 flights were grounded nationwide, according to Korea Airports Corp.

jaeyeon.woo@yna.co.kr
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