Seoul, South Korea ? A typhoon lashed coastal South Korea with a fury unseen in a century, lifting shipping containers in the air, toppling gigantic cranes and flipping a cruise ship on its side. At least 62 people were killed and 25 missing by the time the storm subsided Saturday.

Typhoon Maemi hit the southeastern coast Friday night with gale winds blowing at a record 135 mph before weakening into a tropical storm Saturday. More than 24,900 people fled their homes to seek shelter in schools and public facilities, said the National Disaster Prevention and Countermeasures Headquarters, or NDPCH.

Vast tracts of farmlands, cities and rivers were flooded as Maemi — Korean for the insect cicada — dumped rainfall of up to 17.8 inches.

Maemi is “by far the most powerful typhoon since we began compiling weather records in 1904,” said Yoon Seok-hwan, an official at the Korea Meteorological Administration. He said Maemi’s wind speed was the fastest ever, topping the 129.6 mph record set by Typhoon Prapiroon in 2000.

Maemi triggered landslides in several places, one of which derailed an express train Saturday from Seoul to the southern city of Andong, injuring 28 people.

The NDPCH said at least 62 people drowned or died because of landslides, electrocution and other causes. It said 25 more were missing and feared dead.

In Busan, the nation’s second-largest city and its main port, 11 container-lifting cranes, each weighing as much as 900 tons, were toppled, their green and red steel limbs twisted. Steel containers as long as 20 feet were scattered throughout the port.

At a beach, a cruise ship-turned-floating hotel that had been evacuated earlier flipped over and lay on its side in shallow water.

Typhoon Maemi's high winds collapsed cranes in the port city of Busan, South Korea. The storm hit the southeast coast Friday with gale winds at a record 135 mph.