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Residents at an apartment complex in Pohang air out cars that were trapped in typhoon flood waters on Sept. 7. (Kim Gyu-hyun/The Hankyoreh)

Search operations at an underground parking garage of an apartment in Pohang that was flooded during Typhoon Hinnamnor on Tuesday have entered their final stages.

“After eight searches with firefighters and police for two days starting on Tuesday, we were able to recover nine missing people [two alive, seven in cardiac arrest],” Park Chi-min, head of Pohang Nambu Fire Station, said at a briefing outside the apartment in question on Wednesday afternoon.

“With every search, the insides of vehicles and even undersides of vehicles were searched, so it is unlikely that any additional missing persons will be found,” Park said. “But as the water is drained out, a missing person may appear, therefore the fire department plans to continue search operations.”

Marines shovel away mud and soil dredged up by the typhoon when torrential downpours caused a nearby stream to overflow. (Kim Jung-hyo/The Hankyoreh)

As of 4 pm on Wednesday, the garage was 85% drained but the car park still had 60 centimeters of standing water in it, while the ramp was covered with mud. Due to the mud on the floor, the drainage rate had been slow since the morning, as large-capacity tarps were not able to be used, only drainage pumps in their stead.

The 66 cars remaining in the parking lot looked like they had been bombed and were scattered all over the place, resulting in a dizzying scene of entangled cars. The parking garage also reeked of an acrid smell while shoes, dolls, and wet wipes could be seen floating on the water.

116 rescuers lined up in the parking garage and searched for missing people by using a dragnet to sift through the water.

All the missing persons in the underground parking lot of apartment complex 1 were concentrated near the entrance or emergency stairs. When the missing were discovered, all but two were dead.

Although the search for the missing has entered its final stages, apartment residents are still suffering from water supply and power failure issues. Things aren’t much better above ground either, with the entire area covered in mud resulting from the overflowing of a nearby stream. The mud makes it difficult to pass through the area.

A resident lays out to dry snacks from the convenience store located on the first floor of the apartment building in Pohang. (Kim Gyu-hyun/The Hankyoreh)

At the entrance of the complex, a volunteer fire brigade and personnel from the Korean Red Cross provided residents with bottled water and cup noodles.

“I did some early shopping for Chuseok and put [the food] in the fridge, but now I am worried it will go bad because there is no electricity,” one 67-year-old resident surnamed Choi said.

“I hope the search will be completed soon and that we can have electricity at least through an emergency power generator,” Choi said.

So far, the city of Pohang is estimating the total damages caused by the typhoon to total around 201.3 billion won (US$145 million).

By Kim Gyu-hyun, staff reporter

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