Tropical storm kills four in Korea

At least four people died today after a tropical storm hit South Korea, causing floods and landslides.

Large sections of roads were swept away along the southern and south-western coasts, said the National Disaster Prevention and Countermeasures Headquarters in a statement.

A seven-year-old boy was found dead after he fell into a ditch swollen by rain water in the southern town of Sanchong, where 12 inches of rain fell since Thursday.

Two men in their 50s went missing while trying to cross a rain-swollen stream in Naju, another southern town.

On the island of Jeju, a 45-year-old man was killed when he was carried away by high waves.

Thousands of government officials and volunteers were put on alert overnight as a tropical storm, left over from Typhoon Rammasun, roared towards the Korean peninsula.

The storm had lost much of its punch before hitting the south-western part of the peninsula this morning.

But it still was powerful enough to force authorities to cancel most domestic flights linking the capital, Seoul, to southern provincial cities. International flights to South Korea’s second city, Busan, were also cancelled.