South Korea Storm Toll Soars to 158 Dead, Missing

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, September 02, 2002

South Korea Storm Toll Soars to 158 Dead, Missing

Tens of thousands of troops were mobilized Monday for a massive clean-up operations after the most damaging storm in more than four decades ravaged South Korea, leaving 158 people dead or missing.

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Tens of thousands of troops were mobilized Monday for a massive clean-up operations after the most damaging storm in more than four decades ravaged South Korea, leaving 158 people dead or missing.

The government disaster agency said an additional 29 people were unaccounted for in the wake of Typhoon Rusa, which plowed across South Korea Saturday destroying thousands of houses and paralyzing transport in many parts of the country.

"The death toll is going to go up because workers are trying to confirm reports concerning the 29 people unaccounted for," said Park Hyong-Jun, an official at the government's National Disaster Prevention and Countermeasure Headquarters (NDPCH) here.

State-run KBS television said more than 180 people were feared dead or missing.

The disaster agency estimated property losses at 312 billion won (262 million dollars).

Rusa, South Korea's worst storm in 43 years, washed away 274 bridges and severely damaged railways and roads in 174 places, transportation ministry officials said.

With thousands of electricity poles ripped up, 1.25 million households were still without power late Monday.

High waves swept away 211 ships and wrecked mooring facilities in 24 ports at the height of the storm. About 17,000 houses remained inundated, leaving 27,470 people homeless.

Agriculture and forestry ministry officials said 85,000 hectares (210,000 acres) of farmland were ruined, triggering worries about a steep hike in food prices.

Some 50,000 soldiers and goverment personnel were mobilized for rescue and repair operations at flood-damaged towns.

The defense ministry said thousands of army soldiers were sent to the eastern port city of Gangneung and surrounding Gangwon province, which were battered by a record 890 millimeters (35 inches) of rain Friday and Saturday.

Relief goods have been sent to Gangneung where utility and other public facilities were severely damaged, forcing many of its 200,000 citizens to live without water and power.

"Along with the serious water shortage, I have been living just on cold bread for three days," Park Min-Yong, 43, told Yonhap news agency.

In the city, some 16,000 people took shelter in schools and goverment buildings, it said.

Hundreds of people remained stranded in remote areas in the Gangwon province, awaiting emergency relief.

In southern provinces, farmers, helped by soldiers and goverment officials, drained rice fields.

Floods also crippled operations at a nuclear power plant in Ulchin and two thermal plants elsewhere.

President Kim Dae-Jung called an emergency cabinet meeting and put government agencies on disaster alert on Sunday. The goverment plans to proclaim the province a special disaster zone.

North Korea was also badly hit by the typhoon, notably in southeastern border areas with South Korea, said the official Korean Central News Agency from Pyongyang. Torrential rain accompanied by gale-force winds caused "huge damage," the agency said, without providng details.

Floods and tropical storms have battered much of east and south Asia in this year's monsoon season. Rain-related disaster has claimed more than 1,000 lives so far this year in China, and a similar number in India and other parts of South Asia.

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