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SEOUL, South Korea - A typhoon lashed coastal South Korea with a fury unseen in a century, lifting shipping containers in the air, toppling gigantic cranes and flipping an evacuated cruise ship. Officials said today that there were 72 confirmed deaths and two dozen others feared killed.
Typhoon Maemi hit the southeastern coast Friday night with record winds of 135 mph before weakening to a tropical storm Saturday. More than 24,900 people sought shelter in schools and public facilities, said the National Disaster Prevention and Countermeasures Headquarters.
Vast tracts of farmlands, cities and rivers were flooded as Maemi - Korean for the insect cicada - dumped rainfall of up to 17.8 inches.
Maemi is "by far the most powerful typhoon since we began compiling weather records in 1904," said Yoon Seok Hwan, an official at the Korea Meteorological Administration. He said Maemi's wind speed was the fastest ever, topping the 129.6 mph record set by Typhoon Prapiroon in 2000.
Maemi triggered landslides in several places, one of which derailed an express train from Seoul to the southern city of Andong on Saturday, injuring 28 people.
The disaster center said at least 72 people drowned or died because of landslides, electrocution and other causes. It said 24 more were missing and feared dead.
In Busan, the nation's second-largest city and its main port, 11 container-lifting cranes, each weighing as much as 900 tons, were toppled, their green and red steel limbs twisted beyond recognition. Steel containers as long as 20 feet were scattered around the port.
At a beach, a cruise ship-turned-floating hotel that had been evacuated flipped over and lay on its side in shallow water. At least 18 other empty fishing boats capsized. Elsewhere, a construction crane collapsed on a fire engine, injuring five firefighters.