A typhoon has barreled through the Korean Peninsula, damaging buildings, flooding roads and destroying utility piles before weakening in a tropical storm
SEOUL, South Korea – A typhoon swept through the Korean Peninsula on Thursday, damaging buildings, flooding roads and tilting piles before weakening in a tropical storm.
In South and North Korea, no casualties were reported immediately when a degraded Typhoon Bavi went to China after going near the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, the South Korean weather agency said.
Bavi had packed maximum winds of 133 kilometers per hour when it was attacked early Thursday in a western coastal region of North Korea that is a major source of agriculture and fishing in a nation dealing with chronic food shortages.
After the strong winds and rain stopped, pedestrians and cyclists returned to the wet streets of Pyongyang on Thursday afternoon, moving between swarms of fallen trees and at least one curved traffic sign.
North Korean Korean TV showed footage of cut trees and useful poles and flooded roads. It reported damage to homes and public facilities in North Hwanghae and South Hwanghae provinces, where the typhoon landed. Roads were also flooded in the city of Nampo, which is closer to Pyongyang.
In South Korea, the Ministry of Interior and Security reported damage to buildings, walls, roads and other structures.
By Thursday afternoon, power had been restored to most of more than 9,300 South Korean homes, including more than 3,500 in cities and towns near Seoul and about 900 in the southern resort island of Jeju, which was hit by the typhoon on Wednesday.
More than 470 domestic flights to and from Jeju and the southern mainland city of Busan were canceled. South Korean authorities also stopped some rail services, closed public parks and sea bridges and moved hundreds of fishing boats and passenger ferries to safety.
Workers in Seoul and other major cities restored temporary coronavirus test stations that were dismantled due to concerns that the tents and stalls would not withstand the strong winds.
The official North Korean Central News Agency said earlier this week that leader Kim Jong Un had called for in-depth preparations to minimize casualties and damage from the typhoon. Fishing boats were relocated and buildings, farms and railways reinforced, according to state media.
The storm comes weeks after heavy rains caused flooding and massive damage to homes and crops in North Korea, causing further pain to an economy devastated by border closures over the pandemic and US-led sanctions over Kim’s nuclear program.
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