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South Korea
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Typhoon Hinnamnor smashes into South Korea, killing 10, leaving 66,000 homes without power and forcing thousands to flee

  • The storm made landfall in the country’s southern regions on Tuesday morning, unleashing heavy rains and winds of up to 155km/h
  • It killed 10 people, including seven in hard-hit port city Pohang who drowned in the submerged underground car park of an apartment complex

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A man walks on a road damaged by Typhoon Hinnamnor along the coast in Ulsan, South Korea, on Tuesday. Photo: Yonhap via Reuters
Associated Pressin Seoul
The most powerful typhoon to hit South Korea in years battered its southern region on Tuesday, leaving 10 people dead after dumping almost a metre (3 feet) of rain, destroying roads and felling power lines, leaving 66,000 homes without electricity as thousands of people fled to safer ground.
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Typhoon Hinnamnor grazed the resort island of Jeju and made landfall near the mainland port of Busan in the morning and was moving northeast towards the sea with winds of up to 144 kilometres (89 miles) per hour. It is on track to move closer to eastern China later in the week, after ferry services in eastern China and flights in Japan were suspended in previous days.

The death toll rose to 10, authorities said on Wednesday. In the southeastern port city of Pohang – one of the hardest-hit areas – seven bodies and two survivors were pulled out of the submerged underground car park of an apartment complex, the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters said.

Debris from a damaged hospital caused by Typhoon Hinnamnor is seen on a street in Ulsan, South Korea, on Tuesday. Photo: Yonhap via AP
Debris from a damaged hospital caused by Typhoon Hinnamnor is seen on a street in Ulsan, South Korea, on Tuesday. Photo: Yonhap via AP
Officials had put the nation on alert about potential damage from flooding, landslides and tidal waves unleashed by Hinnamnor, which came just weeks after heavy rains in the region around the capital Seoul caused flooding that killed at least 14 people.

The storm dumped more than 94 centimetres (37 inches) of rain in central Jeju since Sunday, where winds peaked at 155km/h (96mph).

A 25-year-old man was missing after falling into a rain-swollen stream in the southern city of Ulsan, according to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, which didn’t immediately report more casualties. Fires were reported at a major steel plant operated by POSCO in the southern city of Pohang, but it wasn’t immediately clear whether they were caused by the storm.

The Safety Ministry said more than 3,400 people in the southern regions were forced to evacuate from their homes because of safety concerns and that officials were advising or ordering 14,000 more people to evacuate. More than 66,000 homes nationwide suffered power outages, Yonhap reported. At least five buildings were flooded or destroyed, and scores of roads were damaged.

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