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| Navy warships move into Incheon Port, Wednesday, to avoid possible damage Typhoon Khanun, which is forecast to hit the country's southern coast, Thursday morning. Yonhap |
Sea, air travel routes suspended
By Ko Dong-hwan
Korea is scrambling to brace for the rapidly approaching Typhoon Khanun, which is expected to make landfall on the southern coast on Thursday morning, carrying heavy rains and strong winds nationwide.
According to the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA), Wednesday, the entire country is expected to be under the influence of the strong storm throughout the day. Typhoon Khanun is forecast to pass through South Korea and reach North Korea on Friday morning.
Reaching southern waters 120 kilometers south of Tongyeong, South Gyeongsang Province, at about 3 a.m., Thursday, the weather agency forecast Khanun will move past Jeju Island and make initial contact with the mainland near the Tongyeong about six hours later. As of Thursday morning, the typhoon is forecast to carry strong winds of 119 to 158 kilometers per hour and with an air pressure of around 970 hectopascals.
Khanun's trajectory is expected to be almost parallel to the Korean Peninsula as it moves northwards, meaning that the entire country and nearby seas will experience an extreme downpour and strong winds.
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| This image provided by the Korea Meteorological Administration on Wednesday shows the course of Typhoon Khanun. Courtesy of Korea Meteorological Administration |
However, the intensity is expected to weaken once it makes landfall, carrying winds of 90 to 115 kilometers per hour.
It is forecast to reach Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province at around 3 p.m. and approach Namyangju in Gyeonggi Province at about 9 p.m., according to Woo Jin-kyu, an official at the KMA. By 3 a.m. on Friday, Khanun is forecast to move past the inter-Korean border and will be approximately 120 kilometers southeast of Pyongyang.
While the entire country is expected to get soaked starting late on Wednesday and until Friday, precipitation will be mostly concentrated along the coastal and mountainous regions in the provinces of Gangwon (600 millimeters or more), North and South Gyeongsang (400 millimeters or more) and South Jeolla (300 millimeters or more), according to the KMA. The low-lying areas in the rest of the country will see between 100 to 300 millimeters of rain.
The country's southeastern coastal regions will see the strongest winds ― up to 40 meters per second ― but as Khanun's intensity is expected to weaken as it hits the mainland, the wind speed will decrease as the typhoon progresses further towards the capital region.
This is the first time a typhoon will enter the country from its southern end and go all the way to its northern end since Gladys in 1991 or even before that in 1989 with Judy. But both typhoons did not reach the capital region as they ran out of momentum heading north. They had penetrated the country's southwestern regions and gradually went on a diagonal path, eventually departing from the mainland south of Seoul via the West Sea.
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| Tourists at Seongsan Sunrise Peak on Jeju Island try to withstand strong winds and rain, Wednesday, as Typhoon Khanun is forecast to reach the southern part of the country, Thursday morning. Yonhap |
With a possible natural disaster looming large, President Yoon Suk Yeol said he is staying at his Yongsan office to meet the dawn of the anticipated day and receive reports on Khanun's impact on local communities as promptly as possible.
The presidential office said Wednesday that the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters will keep the president updated the latest developments, including the typhoon's real-time course, how the central and local governments are responding and the safety of 43,000 foreign participants of the World Scout Jamboree.
Khanun has shut down all ocean travel routes in the south of the country as the typhoon has started agitating ocean waters around Jeju Island, causing high waves and downpours. Some flights have also been canceled.
On Tuesday, the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters raised the crisis alert status to the highest level of "serious" from "alert."
