Last updated: August 24, 2026
A typhoon does not have to pass directly over your city to disrupt life in Korea. Heavy rain, sudden flooding, strong winds, landslides, transport cancellations, and local evacuation orders can occur far from the storm’s center. For foreign residents, the practical challenge is often knowing which alert matters, where to find reliable English information, and when to stop preparing and move to safety.
This Korea typhoon safety guide explains how to follow official forecasts, prepare an apartment, respond to Korean emergency alerts, travel safely, and handle power, gas, and flood risks. It is designed for residents rather than tourists, but most of the immediate safety steps apply to anyone in the country.
Accuracy note: This article summarizes official disaster guidance available on August 24, 2026. It is not a live forecast. Typhoon tracks, local warnings, transport operations, shelter openings, and evacuation orders can change quickly. Follow the Korea Meteorological Administration, your local government, and emergency personnel for the situation where you are.
Korea typhoon safety: the short checklist
If a typhoon may affect your area, focus on actions that reduce your exposure rather than trying to predict the exact path yourself:
- Check official information. Use the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA), Emergency Ready App, and alerts from your local government.
- Charge devices and prepare essentials. Keep phones, power banks, flashlights, medicines, water, food, and identification together.
- Bring loose outdoor items inside. Clear balconies and secure anything that wind could lift or break.
- Avoid flood-prone places. Stay away from streams, riverside paths, underpasses, underground spaces, steep slopes, and the coast.
- Change travel plans early. Do not wait until wind or flooding makes a routine trip dangerous.
- Evacuate when instructed. A local order is more important than what a national storm map appears to show.
If someone is in immediate danger, call 119 for fire, ambulance, or rescue. Call 112 for police. Our separate guide to emergency numbers in Korea explains what information to give and which number fits different situations.
Where to get official typhoon information in Korea
Use KMA for the forecast and local risk timing
The KMA English typhoon page publishes official storm position, intensity, movement, and forecast information. The Korean KMA service also provides bulletins and regional “risk timing” information when a typhoon is expected to affect the Korean Peninsula.
A forecast track is not a boundary between safe and unsafe areas. Rain bands and wind can extend well beyond the center, and local terrain can make flooding or landslides worse. Check the forecast repeatedly and pay attention to the warnings issued for the city, county, or district where you actually are.
KMA’s weather number is 131. Its paid automated service operates around the clock, while KMA currently lists English and Chinese consultations from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. daily. Call charges may apply, and service hours can change.
Install Emergency Ready App before you need it
The Ministry of the Interior and Safety upgraded Emergency Ready App on June 15, 2026. It now provides emergency alerts in 22 languages, along with disaster response guidance and shelter or public medical facility information.
Install it from the Apple App Store or Google Play, then allow notifications. Location access helps the app show information relevant to where you are, but you should also know your district name in Korean. Save your home, work, and school addresses in Korean so you can compare them with a location named in an alert.
Do not depend on one channel. A weak mobile signal, dead battery, translation delay, or overloaded network can make an app unavailable. Keep KMA bookmarked, watch local government announcements, and use radio or television if mobile service is unreliable.
Recognize the terms that change your actions
You do not need to translate every sentence to identify the main hazard. These words often appear in weather and emergency alerts:
- 태풍 — typhoon
- 호우 — heavy rain
- 강풍 — strong wind
- 홍수 / 침수 — flood / inundation
- 산사태 — landslide
- 대피 — evacuate
- 대피소 — evacuation shelter
- 지하차도 — underpass
- 하천변 — riverside area
주의보 is an advisory and 경보 is a warning. Both deserve attention. An alert that names your neighborhood, a nearby stream, an underpass, or an evacuation destination is more immediately useful than a general social-media post about the typhoon.
What to prepare before wind and rain begin
Make a simple household plan
The government’s English heavy-rain safety guidance recommends identifying evacuation points and safe routes in advance. Choose a meeting point in case household members are separated. Avoid routes beside rivers, on mountain paths, near utility poles or transformers, and through known flood areas.
Tell a trusted person where you plan to go. If anyone in the household is elderly, disabled, pregnant, has limited Korean, or needs powered medical equipment, plan transport and backup power before conditions deteriorate. Keep pets in carriers or on leashes and confirm whether a nearby shelter can accommodate them.
Prepare supplies for at least three days
Safe Korea recommends food, water, and other supplies sufficient for at least three days in case electricity, gas, or water service stops. A practical apartment kit includes:
- Drinking water and shelf-stable food that requires little preparation.
- Prescription medicine, basic first aid supplies, masks, and hygiene items.
- Flashlights, spare batteries, charged power banks, and charging cables.
- A battery radio if you have one; do not rely only on a phone.
- Residence Card or passport, bank card, some cash, keys, and essential phone numbers.
- A light waterproof layer, sturdy shoes, and a change of clothes.
- Baby, disability, or pet supplies needed by your household.
Place the essentials in one bag that you can carry without difficulty. Store important papers in a waterproof pouch and keep digital copies in a secure location you can access from another device.
Prepare your apartment without taking outdoor risks
Before rain starts, clear leaves or debris from accessible drains and bring balcony plants, chairs, laundry racks, tools, and other loose objects indoors. Close doors and windows firmly. If a window or frame is already loose or damaged, contact the landlord or building management; do not lean outside or attempt improvised repairs once the wind has begun.
Move valuables, documents, electronics, and extension cords away from the floor if you live in a low-lying home or semi-basement. Ask the management office whether the building uses flood barriers, where residents should evacuate, and how underground parking will be controlled. Move a vehicle early if the building or local authority advises it. Never enter a flooding basement or underground garage to save a car.
What to do during a typhoon alert
Stay inside and away from glass
Keep doors and windows closed and stay back from glass. In severe wind, move to an interior room or another part of the building with fewer windows. Use a flashlight or phone light during a blackout rather than a candle, which adds fire risk when gas leakage or structural damage is possible.
Do not go outside to photograph waves, check a stream, move a vehicle, retrieve an object, or repair a drain. Government guidance specifically warns people away from rivers, valleys, coasts, breakwaters, construction sites, utility poles, steep slopes, underground spaces, and other locations where water, falling objects, or collapse can cause injury.
Leave underground and flood-prone spaces early
If you live or work below ground, treat rising water, blocked exits, or an evacuation alert as reasons to leave immediately for a higher safe location. Do not use an elevator during flooding or a power interruption. Take the stairs only if the route is dry and safe.
Never walk or drive through a flooded road, underpass, bridge, or riverside path. The depth, current, missing pavement, open drain, or electrical hazard may be impossible to see. If you are isolated, do not try to cross moving water. Call 119 or contact the nearest administrative welfare center for help.
Follow evacuation instructions, even if your building looks safe
Local officials may know about an upstream release, landslide risk, failing retaining wall, or expected river rise that is not visible from your window. Take your emergency bag, use the announced route, and tell shelter staff when you arrive. Help children and neighbors who need assistance only when you can do so without entering danger yourself.
Driving, public transport, and travel plans
The safest trip during a typhoon is often the one postponed. Reduce nonessential travel before service disruptions begin. Check the official app or website of your airline, airport, ferry operator, Korail, bus terminal, or local transit agency. A booking app may show a ticket even when the operator has delayed or canceled the service.
If you are already driving when conditions worsen, slow down, increase following distance, and leave roads near rivers, coasts, slopes, and low underpasses. Do not follow another vehicle into floodwater. If a route is blocked, turn around and use an official detour; navigation apps may not reflect a sudden closure.
People hiking, camping, fishing, boating, or visiting a beach should leave valleys, streams, mountain slopes, shorelines, and breakwaters before the storm arrives. Once an alert is active, returning for equipment is not worth the risk.
Power, gas, water, and flooded-home safety
Do not touch plugs, appliances, breakers, wiring, or outdoor electrical equipment with wet hands or while standing in water. If water is entering the home and the electricity cannot be shut off from a dry, safe location, evacuate and tell emergency personnel. Do not improvise.
After flooding, do not restore gas or electricity simply because the water has receded. Safe Korea advises an expert safety inspection first and identifies the Korea Gas Safety Corporation at 1544-4500 and the Korea Electrical Safety Corporation at 1588-7500. If you smell gas, avoid flames and electrical switches, leave the area, and call for help from a safe place.
Floodwater may contain sewage, fuel, chemicals, sharp objects, or other contamination. Do not eat food that was submerged. Use stored or tap water only after authorities say it is safe when local contamination is suspected.
What to do after the typhoon passes
Wait for local authorities to say that travel or return is safe. A clear sky does not mean roads, bridges, slopes, embankments, power lines, or buildings are stable.
- Contact household members and confirm everyone’s safety.
- Stay away from floodwater, fallen wires, damaged slopes, and closed roads.
- Check the building from outside before entering; leave if you see movement, major cracks, or a strong gas smell.
- Photograph damage before cleanup when it is safe. Notify the landlord, management office, insurer, and local administrative office as appropriate.
- Arrange professional checks before restoring gas or electricity in a flooded property.
- Wear gloves and sturdy footwear for cleanup, and discard contaminated food.
Continue monitoring official alerts. Secondary flooding, landslides, additional rain, and transport closures can continue after the typhoon center has moved away.
FAQ about typhoons in Korea
What app should foreigners use for Korean disaster alerts?
Use Emergency Ready App, the foreign-resident disaster app operated by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety. Since June 15, 2026, it has supported alerts in 22 languages and also provides safety guidance and shelter information. Keep KMA bookmarked as a second official source.
Should I tape an X across my apartment windows?
Do not treat tape as a complete solution. The current Safe Korea guidance emphasizes securing the glass within the frame and using safety film to reduce flying fragments. A damaged or loose window needs proper reinforcement by the landlord, management office, or a qualified professional before the storm. During high wind, stay away from glass.
Is it safe to park in an underground apartment garage?
That depends on the building and local flood risk. Follow management and local-authority instructions, and move the car before rain begins if advised. Never enter a flooding underground garage to retrieve a vehicle.
Can I drive through shallow water?
No. Official guidance says not to enter even slightly flooded underpasses or roads. Water can hide a strong current, damaged road surface, open drain, or electrical hazard.
Where can I find a nearby evacuation shelter?
Emergency Ready App and the Safe Korea English website provide shelter and safety-facility information. Confirm that the facility is open and follow any destination named in your local evacuation alert.
Final preparation
Typhoon safety is mostly about making decisions early. Install the alert app, learn your district name, prepare three days of essentials, clear the balcony, identify a higher evacuation point, and change travel plans before conditions worsen. When official local guidance conflicts with your routine or a social-media forecast, follow the official local guidance.
Korea’s severe summer weather can also include dangerous heat before or after a storm. Keep our Korea heatwave alerts guide with your other seasonal-safety resources.