SEOUL, Sept 1: More than 80 people were feared dead or missing Sunday as Typhoon Rusa lashed South Korea, bringing record rainfall to parts of the country and triggering landslides and flash floods, officials said.

The government’s National Disaster Prevention and Countermeasure Headquarters (NDPCH) said 26 people were confirmed dead and 14 were officially missing. At least 20 others are unaccounted for.

State-run television KBS said 54 people were dead and 38 were missing.

One report, on YTN television, said authorities feared that the death toll could eventually top 80.

“The toll is rising, forcing us to revise figures every hour,” an NDPCH official said, estimating property losses would reach 30.8 billion won (2.5 billion dollars).

President Kim Dae-Jung put government agencies on disaster alert in an emergency cabinet meeting Sunday. The military was ordered to mobilize “all available personnel and equipment” for rescue and repair operations.

Flying debris injured some 20 people and destroyed hundreds of cars. About 17,000 houses were inundated, tens of thousands of trees were ripped up, and 24,000 hectares of farmland were submerged.

Heavy rains and strong winds flooded three power stations and toppled thousands of electricity poles, leaving 1.16 million people without power overnight across the country.

“The typhoon caused enormous damage to industrial facilities,” said an official at the ministry of commerce, industry and energy.

Typhoon Rusa moved to the East Sea (Sea of Japan) Sunday after weakening into a tropical storm, weathermen said.

The typhoon brought a record 890 millimetres of rain to the eastern port city of Gangneung on Friday night and Saturday.

Rusa caused severe property damage and had forced the suspension of nearly all domestic flights and sea routes. Major highways and railroads were cut by landslides and floods.

Gangneung and nearby areas were hit hard, with 13 people missing in landslides which buried 10 cars. Pedestrians had waded through brown waist-deep water in the streets, with 19,000 people left homeless in the region.

High waves swept away fishing boats and wrecked mooring facilities along the coast, while strong winds smashed apartment windows and ripped up traffic signs in cities.

Strong winds also blew away parts of the roof of the Seogwipo World Cup Stadium on the southern island of Jeju and the roof of a hockey stadium in the southern port city of Busan.

Downpours destroyed flower beds and other street decorations for the Asian Games, which will be held in Busan from September 29 to October 15.

Worst hit by the typhoon was the town of Kangnung, 160 km east of Seoul, where the typhoon dumped a record 871 mm of rain on Saturday.

Households there and on Cheju, a resort island off the southern tip of the Korean peninsula, suffered blackouts and residents were evacuated as reservoirs swamped rice fields and lands. Winds hit 204 kph on Cheju where more than 8,000 houses were flooded, disaster prevention officials said.

North Korea, where typhoons since the 1990s have triggered disastrous floods that have worsened food shortages, appeared to escape Rusa’s path as it skirted eastward.

Even before Rusa’s tumultuous passage, monsoon rains and typhoons had killed 16 people in South Korea in July and August.

IN ASIA: Floods and tropical storms have battered much of east and south Asia in this year’s monsoon season. Rains in China have swelled the Yangtze River to dangerous levels, and threatened last month to burst dykes on the huge Dongting Lake, a catchment for the mighty river.