Typhoon Muifa pounds West Coast cities as it nears Seoul

Typhoon Muifa pounded South Korea''s west coast, leaving at least one dead and two others missing as it proceeded northward to reach the capital of Seoul Monday morning, the meteorological office and the emergency control agency said. As of early Monday, Muifa, the ninth typhoon of the year spawned in the West Pacific, was heading northward from waters 260 kilometers west of Seosan, according the Korea Meteorological Administration. Seosan is located 151 kilometers southwest of Seoul. The typhoon, moving at a speed of 26km per hour, is expected to hit Seoul, the surrounding Gyeonggi region and the nearby city of Incheon late Monday morning before heading toward China''s Liaodong Peninsula, just north of the Korean Peninsula, by evening, according to the meteorological office. As it swept through the lower half of South Korea''s west coast on Sunday, the typhoon killed at least one person and caused two others to go missing as it battered southern cities along the coast and the southern tourist island of Jeju, South Korea''s (Yonhap) news agency reported. A 75-year-old man was found dead late Sunday on the island of Wando, located at the southern tip of South Jeolla Province, after going missing while trying to moor a 1-ton ship in stormy seas, the National Emergency Management Agency said. A 50-year-old woman went missing in Hwasun, South Jeolla Province, as well as a 64-year-old man in the southern port city of Busan, after being swept away by stormy seas, according to the agency. Hundreds of flights between Jeju Island and Seoul were canceled due to the typhoon and ensuing heavy rains on Sunday while passenger ships and other fishing boats were also moored in the Yellow Sea. Some 220 people were left homeless in the southern coastal city of Yeosu after a downpour accompanying Muifa flooded their homes. South Jeolla Province, one of the regions hit hardest from the typhoon, reported power failure for some 150,000 households and several ruined roads. As of Monday morning, typhoon warnings were being issued in the capital area of Seoul, Gyeonggi and Incheon and the southern provinces of South Chungcheong, South and North Jeolla as well as the metropolitan cities of Daejeon and Gwangju. The warnings were also in effect for the Yellow Sea and the western part of the south sea. But the typhoon warning imposed on Jeju Island on Sunday was lifted at around 10:00 a.m. on Monday. Seoul-Jeju flights fully resumed from 6:10 a.m. as Muifa''s influence on the scenic island waned, according to airport officials. Authorities called for special caution in the capital area as the typhoon is expected to bring heavy rains and storms as it passes through the region Monday morning.