The heaviest snowfall in decades has pounded southern South Korea, leaving at least one person dead and another injured and forcing nearly 1 200 schools to close temporarily, officials and media reported on Thursday.
Thousands of motorists had to spend the night on a closed-off highway, shivering in below-freezing temperatures and waiting for food and water from relief workers, reports said.
Television footage and newspaper photos showed long lines of snowbound vehicles on the Honam Expressway, the main highway linking the country’s central and south-western regions.
The expressway reopened to traffic on Thursday morning, the National Emergency Management Agency said in a release.
Up to 45,6cm of snow fell in the region on Wednesday, the largest single-day snowfall since the government began compiling weather data there in 1968, the Korean Meteorological Administration said.
More snow fell on Thursday, recording 59cm for Buan, a rural town about 280km south-west of Seoul, officials said.
On Wednesday, a greenhouse at an agriculture research centre in Buan collapsed under the weight of snow, killing a 48-year-old man and injuring another.
Reports said a 68-year-old man was also found dead near his house in Jangseong, about 300km south of Seoul, but it was unclear if snow could be blamed for the death.
More than 900 schools in the region were closed temporarily on Thursday, the government’s anti-disaster office said, but some reports put the number at 1 196.
The snowfall also caused mass flight cancellations, mainly at the airports in the southern resort island of Jeju and the southern metropolitan area of Gwangju. More than 200 flights have been grounded since Wednesday morning, airport officials said.
In addition, 89 ferries on 67 routes remained out of service.
Reports said at least 126 factories in the region suffered property damage worth 14,6-billion won ($14,3-million) because of the weather.
Snowstorms cut power in Japan
Meanwhile, severe snowstorms on Thursday caused power failures for more than one million people in several provinces of Japan, local media reported.
In the Kinki region and in Niigata province, power lines short-circuited and more than 1 100 traffic lights were out. In the city of Niigata, people were trapped inside elevators.
Snow on power lines also caused the shutdown of two nuclear power plants in Oi and Fukui prefectures. The cities of Osaka, Kyoto, Shiga and Nara province were without electricity for 30 minutes.
Bullet-train services on the Joetsu Shinkansen Line were suspended because of the blackout between Nagaoka and Niigata stations, and two trains ended up stranded on the line between Echigo-Yuzawa and Niigata stations, according to officials.
According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, Ono, Fukui prefecture, saw 48cm of snowfall in 24 hours.
In Aomori prefecture, 2m of snow accumulated and Tsunan in Niigata prefecture saw 1,91m, local media reported. — Sapa-DPA, Sapa-AP