Typhoon Hinnamnor travels toward S. Korea, southern regions on alert

SEOUL, Sept. 4 (Yonhap) -- Typhoon Hinnamnor continued to move northward toward South Korea on Sunday, triggering fresh weather advisories in southern parts of the country, including Busan and Gwangju.

Parts of the country received rain on Sunday as a result of the approaching typhoon, which has been forecast to land 70 kilometers southwest of the port city of Busan on Tuesday.

According to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, preliminary weather advisories were issued in the southern cities of Gwangju, Busan, Daegu and Ulsan and in the surrounding provinces of South and North Jeolla and South Gyeongsang at 5 a.m. Sunday.

The warnings came a day after an advisory was issued over the southern island of Jeju.

The powerful typhoon, the 11th this year, has been traveling slowly northward at a speed of 11 kilometers per hour over waters southeast of Taipei, Taiwan, and is expected to reach waters some 570 km south-southwest of Jeju by 3 a.m. Monday, according to the weather authorities.

The country is expected to receive between 100 and 300 millimeters of rain between Sunday and Tuesday, with the mountainous areas of Jeju receiving more than 600 millimeters.

No casualties or property damage have been reported so far.

More than 600 trails in national parks across the country will be closed starting 5 p.m. Sunday. Operations of 46 ferries serving 31 routes have been already been suspended, while the local governments of Jeju, South Jeolla Province and other nearby jurisdictions have ordered some 16,000 vessels to move to safety.

At President Yoon Suk-yeol's orders, the government on Saturday raised the typhoon alert level by one notch to "yellow" from "blue."

hague@yna.co.kr
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