Typhoon Rusa

Typhoon Rusa was a deadly and destructive typhoon that severely affected South Korea in 2002. The twenty-first tropical depression, the fifteenth named storm, and the tenth typhoon of the 2002 Pacific typhoon season, Rusa developed on August 22 from a monsoon trough in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, to the southeast of Japan. For several days, Rusa moved northwestward, eventually intensifying into a powerful typhoon. On August 26, the storm moved across the Amami Islands, where it left 20,000 people without power and caused two fatalities. The typhoon dropped torrential rainfall across Japan, peaking at 902 mm (35.5 in) in Tokushima Prefecture. After slightly weakening, Rusa made landfall in Goheung, South Korea with 10-minute maximum sustained winds of 140 km/h (85 mph). The storm was able to maintain much of its intensity due to warm air and instability from a nearby cold front. Rusa weakened while moving through the country, dropping heavy rainfall that peaked at 897.5 mm (35.33 in) in Gangneung. A 24-hour total precipitation of 880 mm (35 in) in the city broke the record for the highest daily precipitation in the country; however, the heaviest rainfall was localized. Over 17,000 houses were damaged, and large areas of crop fields were flooded. In South Korea, Rusa killed at least 233 people, making it the deadliest typhoon in the country in over 43 years, and caused $4.2 billion in damage. The typhoon also dropped heavy rainfall in the neighboring North Korea, leaving 26,000 people homeless and killing three. Rusa also destroyed large areas of crops in the country already affected by ongoing famine conditions. The typhoon later transitioned into an extratropical cyclone over eastern Russia on September 1 before dissipating three days later.