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CNN Live Today

South Korea Recovering from Typhoon Rusa

Aired September 02, 2002 - 10:02   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: We're not alone in our rain misery, thousands of South Koreans are dealing with mud and misery today as they begin cleaning up after Typhoon Rusa. Rusa's being called the most destructive typhoon to hit South Korea in four decades. Thousands of homes were damaged by flooding and landslides.
CNN's Seoul bureau chief Sohn Jie-Ae joins us live on the phone with the latest.

Tell us what it's like there.

SOHN JIE-AE, CNN SEOUL BUREAU CHIEF: Well, Carol, we just finished a very devastating day here in South Korea for thousands of South Koreans. It is now night; but as from daybreak, South Koreans were trying to recover from a severe typhoon that hit South Korea over the weekend. The most severe part of South Korea that was hit by the typhoon was the east coast.

Now the human toll of the typhoon is officially tallied at about 158. We're saying -- we're hearing that it's 88 dead and 70 missing. Officials say another about 30 could be considered missing from the typhoon, so these tallies could be increased over the next few hours. The property damage is tallied at about $262 million. And again, this could -- this is expected to increase significantly -- Carol.

COSTELLO: So tell us what 127-mile-per-hour winds are like.

JIE-AE: Oh, they were strong enough to just rip trees out from their roots. It overturned many houses and it brought with it terrible landslides. I think that was what was -- what was devastating to a lot of South Korean homes. It brought landslides down from mountains. They were -- there was one patch of road where the cars were stuck on a mountain road and because of the typhoon, the landslide that it triggered just had 5 to 10 cars just go down a mountain. And we're not even sure what the death toll of that accident will be. So accidents of those types are really devastating all over the nation -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Well I hope you're somewhere safe.

JIE-AE: I am, thanks.

COSTELLO: Sohn Jie-Ae, reporting live from South Korea this morning, thank you very much.

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