Floods, drought and other weather anomalies caused by the El Nino weather phenomenon have killed 16 people and cost Korea about 200 billion won ($144 million) since April 1997, government officials estimated yesterday.
According to the Korea Meteorological Administration and the Central Antidisaster Prevention Center, El Nino-driven weather calamities have resulted in 68 billion won in property losses since April 1997 when El Nino began to gain strength.
The country has spent 126.8 billion won to restore the damages triggered by El Nino, or an unusual warming of the tropical sea waters.
El Nino first affected the country in late August last year when Typhoon Winnie and high tides inundated a vast area of lowlands on the west coast.
A total of 1,203 houses and 2,027 ha of farmland were flooded at that time, and the resultant property damage was estimated at 22.2 billion won.
The biggest property damage of 24.5 billion won was recorded in early January this year when heavy snows of more than one meter pounded the mountainous eastern part of Kangwon province.
The worst-ever snowstorm stranded thousands of residents in country villages and left several roads closed to traffic for several days.
In September last year, typhoon Oliwa, which developed near Hawaii, skirted the Korean Peninsula, killing 11 people and causing 5.3 billion won in property damages.
Five people were killed and more than 3,000 people were left homeless in late November last year when unusual torrential rains pounded several regions of the nation. Officials estimated the damage from the heavy rains at 8.5 billion won.
El Nino also brought about a severe drought between July and November last year when 79 forest fires broke out burning 143.6 ha of forest.
However, the weather phenomenon did benefit the country in some ways. The drought last autumn, which exposed rice to more sunlight than usual, increased rice harvests by 600,000 tons, the officials said.
In addition, an unusually warm winter last year helped the country save trillions of won in heating costs, they added.