Typhoon Ewiniar Passes Over Southwest Korea

The National Emergency Management Agency said Sunday and Monday saw five deaths, one person missing, and six injured. In Jeju, South Gyeongsang and South Jeolla provinces, which lay directly in the typhoon’s path, 43 houses were flooded, with 81 people from 40 households in Changnyeong left homeless by the storm. Some 2,240 hectares of farmland were submerged. As the typhoon passed over Jeju and made landfall in South Jeolla Province, 297 schools in the region stayed closed.

A pedestrian struggles against the wind in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province on Monday as typhoon Ewiniar passed over southwestern Korea./Newsis

All domestic flights to Jeju island and other provinces from Gimpo Airport were cancelled, grounding 69 flights to and from Jeju, 52 to Gimhae, 11 to Gwangju, 24 to Ulsan, and 16 to Yeosu and leaving some 20,000 passengers stranded. International flights in and out of Incheon however, went ahead on schedule. With heavy gales and high waves, some 8,000 boats came into port in South and East Sea areas including Busan. In South Jeolla Province, 47 island ferries were cancelled.

The Korea Meteorological Administration said the typhoon will pass over central regions and pass 50 km north of Seokcho and then out to sea early Tuesday.

But already typhoon no. 4, christened Bilis, has set its sights on Korea and is moving inexorably northward after hitting the western coast of Guam at around 3 p.m. on Sunday before visiting Manila in the Philippines by 3 p.m. on Monday. Come Thursday at around the same time, it will be 270 km off southeast Taiwan, the KMA said.

Bilis is a mid-grade typhoon with winds of up to 21 m per second, but by 3 p.m. Wednesday it is expected to pick up 35 m per second, which would categorize it as “major.”The name "Bilis" means “speed” or “fleetness” and was contributed by the Philippines.

(englishnews@chosun.com )