Everyone be safe out there as Typhoon Prapiroon moves towards Korea:
Cars are submerged in a street at Boseong in South Jeolla Province, Sunday / Yonhap
A nationwide downpour hit Korea on Sunday and Monday as Typhoon Prapiroon approached.
One person was killed and two were injured after up to 300 millimeters of rain fell across the country. A woman, 53, originally from Thailand, died in hospital after being struck by lightning at Yeonggwang, South Jeolla Province.
Two others ― a woman, 73, at Boseong and a man, 73, at Gwangju ― were injured.
The downpour swamped more 3,700 hectares of farmland and caused some railroads to suspend operations. Many cars have been submerged, slowing traffic. Houses and rice paddies were flooded, railway services temporarily stopped and flights were delayed. [Korea Times]
I guess this makes sense considering how many soldiers are reportedly missing and the damage done to border checkpoints:
North Korea has hastily dispatched agents from its State Security Ministry to flood-damaged areas bordering China to block mass defections of residents there, a U.S. broadcaster, monitored in Seoul, reported Monday.
This summer, the North’s northeastern provinces adjacent to China were devastated by heavy rains accompanied by Typhoon Lionrock. The United Nations estimates that 138 North Koreans were killed and 400 others are missing in the country’s worst flooding in its history, with about 20,000 houses destroyed.
The North Korean authorities employed the step as defections have become easier as the heavy rains wrecked lots of border facilities, such as guard posts, and barbed-wire fences, the Radio Free Asia (RFA) said, citing a source in the North. [Korea Times]
In this image captured from the North’s Korean Central TV Broadcasting Station on Oct. 8, 2015, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (front) visits the northern free-trade city of Rason, which has been devastated by a flood caused by Typhoon Goni. The broadcaster did not report when he made the visit. Among Kim’s entourage was Ma Won-chun, director of the design department at the North’s powerful National Defense Commission in his first public appearance in a year to quell rumors of his purge. Kim reportedly purged Ma, who spearheaded the construction of a new airport terminal in Pyongyang which opened in July. (Yonhap)
Shown in the picture released on Oct. 3, 2015, is a comparsion of satellite photos of the North Korean town of Rason along the border with China and Russia, taken on September 2013 (top) and 2015. (Google/Yonhap)
