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A typhoon that slammed into South Korea at the weekend left more than 100 people dead or missing, a disaster official said on Monday as rescuers waded through mudslides and swollen rivers looking for survivors.
"Far more than 100 people have been killed or have gone missing, but we think the number will increase as searches for the missing or buried people are still going on," said Kim Jin-young, a director at the National Disaster Prevention Headquarters.
"The number of dead and missing are on the rise. So far 46 are reported dead and 80 are missing," Kim told Reuters television. "The damage to property is expected to be the largest in history."
Soldiers and police have been deployed to assist in a massive clean-up centered on the east coast which Typhoon Rusa lashed with gusts of up to 200 km/h (127 mph) on Saturday and dropped a record 871 mm (34 inches) of rain on the city of Kangnung.
As it swept inland, it triggered landslides that washed away roads, houses and vehicles, forcing thousands to evacuate their homes and leaving 668,000 houses without electricity.
Damage assessments had risen to 255 billion won ($214 million) by early Monday as reports of destruction same in from across the country, the disaster headquarters said.
"We've even lost contact with some of our police stations," a policeman in Kangnung told Reuters.
Damage included homes, business, roads and farms growing fruit and vegetables.
Air, land and sea transport were largely back to normal after all domestic flights and some regional services were canceled on Saturday.
Korean Air could not be reached for immediate comment while the country's second biggest carrier, Asiana Airlines, said the typhoon had cost it 2.5 billion won in lost revenue.
"Rusa started to weaken around 3 p.m. yesterday. It has passed through and left the peninsula heading east," an official at the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) told Reuters.
North Korea, where typhoons since the 1990s have triggered disastrous floods that have worsened food shortages, appeared to escape Rusa's path as it skirted east.
"It passed without hitting North Korea directly but the North's east coast had heavy rain," the KMA official said.
South Korean President Kim Dae-jung called an emergency meeting of cabinet ministers on Sunday at which he urged quick repair to typhoon-damaged facilities, including those built for the Asian Games which are to open in the southern port city of Pusan on Sept 29.
(China Daily September 2, 2002)
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