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| Trees are uprooted by heavy rain and strong winds in the country's largest port city of Busan, Sept. 6. Yonhap |
Super Typhoon Hinnamnor made landfall on Korea's Geoje early Tuesday morning, possibly becoming the most powerful storm ever to hit the country.
The typhoon, the 11th this year, made landfall at the southeastern city of Geoje, South Gyeongsang Province at 4:50 a.m., according to the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA). Geoje city is made up of a number of islands, of which by far the largest is Geoje Island.
The strength of the typhoon when it hit Geoje was not immediately available, but the KMA said the typhoon was classified "very strong" when it passed through the southern island of Jeju at around midnight with an atmospheric pressure of 945 hectopascals (hPa) at its center and maximum wind speed of 45 kilometers per second.
"Hinnamnor is a very big typhoon with a radius of 400 kilometers, and can carry strong winds and heavy rainfall almost all across the country," Han Sang-un, the chief forecaster at the KMA, told a press briefing, urging to minimize possible casualties.
Typhoons are classified into four categories: medium, strong, very strong and super strong. Super strong refers to typhoons with a maximum wind speed of at least 54 meters per second.
After brushing past Jeju, Typhoon Hinnamnor was forecast to pass 180 kilometers southwest of the southern port city of Busan by 3 a.m., with an atmospheric pressure of 945hPa at its center, the KMA said earlier.
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| Waves hit a seawall in Busan on Sept. 6, as the super strong Typhoon Hinnamnor approaches the Korean Peninsula. Yonhap |
A heavy rain warning was issued earlier for all parts of the country, but the warning has been lifted in areas including the western port city of Incheon after the typhoon moved past Jeju and continued to move eastward.
The country was expected to receive accumulated rainfall between 100 and 300 millimeters on Monday and Tuesday, with the mountainous areas of Jeju and some southern coastal regions receiving more than 600 millimeters and 400 millimeters, respectively.
More than 2,000 people had been evacuated from their homes in South Gyeongsang Province, according to local authorities there.
The typhoon could also bring record strong winds, with the KMA forecasting maximum speeds of 40 to 60 meters per second in Jeju and other lower coastal areas between Monday night and Tuesday.
The current record is 63.7 meters per second measured in the eastern coastal city of Sokcho on Oct. 23, 2006.
No casualties have been reported from the effects of Typhoon Hinnamnor so far.
The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters' emergency response posture was upgraded to the highest level as of 4:30 p.m. Sunday for the first time in five years in terms of the typhoon response.
As of Monday night, a total of eight homes and three commercial buildings were inundated on Jeju Island alone, according to the interior ministry.
Almost all schools in Jeju were closed. Nationwide, 62 elementary, middle and high schools temporarily closed down, 548 schools switched to online learning and 1,153 shortened classes to prevent damage from the typhoon.
A series of ferry services and flights were canceled across the country.
Across the country, a total of 361 domestic flights had been cancelled as of Monday afternoon, according to airport authorities.
Out of 67 domestic flights leaving the Gimpo International Airport in western Seoul, as of 9 a.m. Monday, 13 had been cancelled, according to the Korea Airports Corporation.
President Yoon Suk-yeol instructed the military and police to immediately deploy the "maximum" of their available personnel to help get citizens out of harm's way and engage in other emergency operations, his spokesperson Kang In-sun said.
He issued the instruction after being briefed on the typhoon by Prime Minister Han Duck-soo at around 9 p.m. (Yonhap)
