PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY, October 18 (Itar-Tass) - Local flights, which were disrupted over Typhoon Wipha on October 17, were resumed on the Kamchatka Peninsula, the flight control service of the Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky airport in the town of Yelizovo told Itar-Tass on Friday. The typhoon has brought stormy winds and heavy rain on the south of the peninsula.
The flight control service noted that the flights on the local airlines will be made by 90 percent of flight schedule on Friday. The runways have not been put back into operation at the local airports yet. This concerns the airfield in the settlement Ozrenovsky, where hurricane winds of 40 metres per second were blowing on Thursday and the airfield in the settlement of Nikolskoye on Bering Island, the Komandorskiye Islands. The flights are not made over snow blizzard and strong winds in the district centre of Ust-Kamchatsk on Friday. The flights are made according to the schedule on the routes connecting the peninsula and the mainland, the flight control service of the main airport in Kamchatka said.
The Kamchatka weather forecasting service reported that the storm passed its peak in the south of the territory. The storm reached its peak on October 17. The hardest hit of the natural disaster was the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, where the wind velocity reached 31 metres per second and 40 metres per second in the southwest of the peninsula. Heavy rain passed in the south of the territory, but the hydrological situation was not strongly affected.
Packed gusts of up to 35 metres per second and a strong storm were reported in the Sea of Okhotsk. The storm is raging in the north-western part of the Pacific off Kamchatka. The waves are ten metres high. The storm warnings were given to the vessels sailing near the storm-stricken areas.
The natural disaster did not cause serious damage to the infrastructure, the ministry of special programmes for Cossacks’ affairs in the territory told Itar-Tass. The operation of the life-supporting facilities in the settlements and their power supply were not disrupted.
However, the trees were fallen by stormy winds in several districts in the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and the neighbouring town of Yelizovo. At the peak of the storm packed winds literally knocked down people. The car alarm systems set off. Two people were injured, including due to the tree falling on the car, the territorial governmental press service reported. No people were heavily injured, the press service reported.
No emergency situations were reported on the peninsula over the natural disaster, the Kamchatka territorial emergency situation department said. The weather forecasters noted the weather improvement and do not forecast worse weather within next few days.