Large Typhoon Likely to Hit Korea on September 6 or 7

Typhoon Nabi, which is more powerful than Typhoon Rusa in 2002, which caused the worst damage to Korea, is likely to hit the Korean peninsula around September 6 or 7.

The Korea Meteorological Administration (KMT) announced yesterday, “As of noon on September 2, the 14th typhoon of the season which emerged around 1,210km away near the northeastern sea of Guam around at 9:00 p.m. on August 29 is slowly moving northwestward at 17km speed per hour along the 1,600 km southeastern sea of Okinawa in Japan.”

The KMT expected that even if the typhoon’s course is somewhat fluid, it would give heavy rains and strong wind to Korea as it moves toward the Korean peninsula on September 6 or 7.

The KMT asked the public to thoroughly prepare for it in advance to escape damage caused by wind and heavy rain, saying, “Nabi is a super-sized typhoon that has a central pressure of 930hPa and a maximum wind speed of 48m per second, and its wind influences areas within a 550 km radius. This typhoon is more powerful than Rusa.”

Rusa (with a maximum wind speed of 43.7m) hit the Korean peninsula from August 30, 2002 to September 1, causing a total of 246 casualties and property damage amounting to about 5.15 trillion won. Typhoon Maemi, which hit Korea in September 2003 resulted in 131 dead or missing and property damage amounting to about 4.2 trillion won.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Environment announced on the same day that a phenomenon where a gauzy mist sets in the metropolitan area and the level of particulate matter exceeds the standard level (100ug/m3) to a degree that has a detrimental effect to respiratory ailment patients occurred from August 29 to the morning of September 1.

Jong-Dae Ha orionha@donga.com