More than 100 mm of rain with strong winds forecast for Jeju and the southern coast

Tourists walk through rain along the Songaksan trail in Daejeong-eup, Seogwipo, Jeju Island, on Friday, as Typhoon Trami, the 30th named storm of the season, moves northward. [Newsis]
Tourists walk through rain along the Songaksan trail in Daejeong-eup, Seogwipo, Jeju Island, on Friday, as Typhoon Trami, the 30th named storm of the season, moves northward. [Newsis]

The Ministry of Interior and Safety raised the wind-and-flood disaster alert level for Jeju Island and the southern coastal regions from "Attention" to "Caution" at 6 p.m. Saturday, as Typhoon Trami, the 30th named storm of the season, continued moving north.

According to Yonhap, the upgraded alert covers five metropolitan and provincial areas: Jeju Island, South Jeolla Province and Gwangju, Busan, Ulsan, and South Gyeongsang Province.

The move followed the issuance of a preliminary typhoon advisory at 4 p.m. Saturday for the outer seas south of Jeju Island and the eastern outer waters of the South Sea. Forecasters warned that the convergence zone ahead of the typhoon would bring more than 100 millimeters of rain accompanied by strong winds, centered on Jeju and the southern coast.

The ministry convened a situation assessment meeting chaired by the director general of natural disaster response and decided to raise the alert level. It also dispatched on-site situation managers to South Jeolla Province and Gwangju, Busan, Ulsan, and South Gyeongsang Province — in addition to those already deployed to Jeju — to monitor local government responses and provide field support.

"The government will work closely with all relevant agencies until the typhoon and heavy rain have fully passed, doing everything in our power to prevent casualties and property damage," Interior and Safety Minister Yun Ho-jung said.


eyre@heraldcorp.com