hankyoreh

Search crew members check the water level in an underground parking lot in the Indeok neighborhood of Pohang that flooded during Typhoon Hinnamnor, trapping multiple people inside. (Kim Jung-hyo/The Hankyoreh)

Eight people went missing in the underground parking garage of a Pohang apartment complex just before Typhoon Hinnamnor (No. 11) moved off the coast of the Korean Peninsula.

The tragedy struck when several residents went down to the garage to move their vehicles amid fears of flooding as heavy rains of over 100 mm (3.9 in) in an hour caused a nearby stream to spill over.

The residents are believed to have gone down into the garage after an announcement from the apartment’s management office urged them to move any vehicles parked below ground.

As of Tuesday evening, a total of three people nationwide have been confirmed dead due to the effects of Typhoon Hinnamnor, with a total of nine missing and one injured.

According to accounts from firefighting officials and the city of Pohang, the first missing person report was received at around 9:11 am Tuesday. The person submitting the report said they had been unable to reach a family member who had gone to the underground parking facility at the apartment in the Indeok neighborhood of Pohang’s Nam (South) District to move their car.

Firefighting officials said a total of eight people had been caught in the garage by a sudden influx of water and were unable to escape. The garage became completely flooded, with even its entrance concealed by the water.

At around 6:30 am on Tuesday, the apartment’s management office made an announcement to residents urging them to move vehicles parked in the underground facility due to flooding concerns.

“When we arrived at the scene, the entire 100-space parking facility on the first basement level was filled with water,” a source with the firefighting officials said.

“Drainage is [still] underway, but firefighters and a Marine Corps search party are working together to find the missing people,” they added. As of 7:30 pm, the drainage effort was 40% complete.

A similar tragedy occurred at an underground parking garage in Ocheon, another township in Pohang’s Nam District. Firefighting officials said family members of a 66-year-old woman who lives at an apartment building there reported being unable to reach her after she went to move her car from the garage at around 9:40 am Tuesday.

They drained the facility and conducted a search, but when the woman was found six hours after her disappearance, she was already dead.

Making landfall on the Korean Peninsula in the early morning hours on Tuesday, Typhoon Hinnamnor caused considerable losses of life and property, although not at the same scale as Typhoon Maemi in 2003.

Losses were particularly severe in Pohang and Gyeongju, both of which experienced heavy rains in terms of hourly precipitation. The only Hinnamnor-related deaths reported were in those two cities.

One of those killed was a woman in her 80s who was found buried inside her home in the Jinhyeong neighborhood of Gyeongju around 11 am.

“It appears that the sandwich panel walls and windows were not able to withstand the pressure and collapsed, causing soil to pour into her home,” a firefighting official said.

At 7:57 am, a man in his 70s who had gone missing after being caught in a current was found dead on an Ocheon road. One other person was also reported missing in Ulsan.

According to data shared by the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters at 6 pm Tuesday, an estimated 3,815 hectares of farmland had been damaged by flooding and fruit loss. Most of the crop damage occurred in South Gyeongsang Province and Jeju.

Around 80 residences and commercial establishments nationwide suffered flooding, and four ships were overturned in Seogwipo, Yeonggwang County and Boryeong. Damage was also reported at 134 schools and other educational facilities.

Cumulative rainfall between Sept. 3 and 3 pm on Tuesday afternoon totaled 1,059.0 mm (41 in) in Jeju (at the Witse Oreum volcanic cone), 447.5mm in Gyeongju, 418.2mm in Pohang, and 385.5mm in Ulsan. The highest recorded wind speed was 37.4m/s (83.6 mph) at 2:43 am in Tongyeong, followed by 37.3m/s at 12:14 am in Jeju City and 33.1m/s at 3:41 am in Gunsan.

By Kim Gyu-hyun, staff reporter; Lee Jung-ha, staff reporter; Kim Seon-sik, staff reporter

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]