Maysak floods Koreas with deadly impacts, leaves dozens missing

Maysak ripped into the southern peninsula of South Korea on Thursday morning with little regard for the tumultuous typhoon season the region has had to deal with this season. Just one week after Typhoon Bavi brought a lot of worries but little more than heavy rainfall to mainland South Korea, Maysak has proven to be far less accommodating.

The ninth typhoon of the West Pacific tropical season and the fourth to impact South Korea, Maysak made landfall on Thursday morning, local time, with 177 km/h (110 mph) winds, equivalent to that of a Category 3 hurricane in the Atlantic basin. The typhoon made landfall near Busan, the second-largest city in South Korea.

Before it even arrived on the South Korean peninsula, Maysak was already thrashing the country, as over 20,000 residents on the resort island of Jeju lost power Wednesday night. After landfall, that figure climbed to over 120,000 along with damage reports and a death toll.

This Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2020, satellite image released by NASA shows Typhoon Maysak over Japan's southernmost islands, including Okinawa, center. The powerful typhoon was blowing over Japan's southernmost islands early Tuesday on course for Japan's main southern island and later the Korean Peninsula. (EOSDIS via AP)

By the end of the day Thursday, local time, at least two Maysak-related fatalities had been confirmed by authorities. The first came in Busan by way of injuries sustained from a broken window that killed a woman, according to Korea Joongang Daily. The 67-year-old woman, who, according to police, was attempting to tape a window in her house in preparation for the storm on Wednesday when she accidentally broke the window and hurt herself with the shattered glass.

Another fatality was of a man in his 60s when winds toppled a large outdoor fridge, crushing him, according to Voice Of America.

A third death was still under investigation after a man was found dead on Thursday. He was believed to have fallen off his roof while repairing a leak related to Maysak, Reuters reported.

At least 12 other injuries have also been reported in Busan and over 850 cases of property damage were reported, according to local reports. In Gyeongsang, located about 85 km inland from Busan, 5,151 hectares of farmland were damaged.

Those injury and death totals are expected to climb, however, as dozens of others are missing, including over 40 sailors and over 5,800 cattle who were on a cargo ship that went missing. According to the Japan Coast Guard, only one sailor was rescued after spending several hours in the water.

Early Friday morning, local time, a second crew member was rescued from the East China Sea, where he had been floating in raft, stated the Associated Press. A third crew member was found unconscious hours later, and was pronounced dead after being taken to the hospital.

CNN reported that the 133.6-meter-long (438-foot-long) ship, known as the Gulf Livestock 1, was sailing from Napier, New Zealand, to Tangshan, China, according to the authorities. The vessel sent out a distress signal early Wednesday when it was about 185 kilometers (115 miles) west of the Japanese island of Amami Oshima.

Earlier in the week, Maysak had inflicted damage on Japan's Ryukyu Islands with winds of 196 km/h (122 mph).

In North Korea, Maysak dumped extremely heavy rainfall, leading to flooding in the coastal town of Wonsan. According to the country's state television broadcast, the Korean Central Television Broadcasting Station, Wonsan was dealt 132 millimeters (5.19 inches) of rain in just three hours.

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