Seoul, Sept 13: Gale winds and heavy rain from a powerful typhoon lashed South Korea overnight, killing at least 33 people and forcing thousands of others to seek emergency shelter today, the anti-disaster office said. Typhoon Maemi struck late yesterday with winds of up to 216 km per hour, flooding farmlands and cities with as much as 45 centimetres of rain, the National Disaster Prevention and Countermeasures headquarters said in a statement. The storm felled trees, downed power lines and caused a landslide early today that derailed three cars of the Saemaeul Express train as it traveled from Seoul to the southern city of Andong, the statement said.
It added that 15 people were injured. A report earlier said that seven cars were derailed and 28 were injured. Traffic was halted on the line. The worst affected area was southeastern Gyeongsang province, where at least four people were buried under landslides and seven were missing after being swept away by high tides, the anti-disaster headquarters said.
Over 2,000 people abandoned their homes to shelter at nearby schools and public facilities. In the nation`s second-largest city of Busan, a construction crane collapsed, injuring five firefighters. Bureau Report