Torrential rain leaves at least 18 dead in South Korea, trail of devastation
Nine people remained missing as of Sunday evening, the ministry said, with residents of the worst-hit areas in shock.
At Gapyeong, some 62km northeast of the capital Seoul, some residents recalled narrow escapes from the floods after 173ml of rain deluged the area over just 17 hours on Sunday.
Gapyeong was among a number of places that saw a record amount of rain in a single day and broke the previous high for national daily precipitation of 156.3mm that was set on Sep 30, 1998.
"The ground just sank beneath me, and the water rose all the way up to my neck. Luckily, there was an iron pipe nearby. I held on to it with all my strength," said Ahn Gyeong-bun, the owner of a restaurant that was almost completely destroyed.
Two people died and four were missing after a landslide engulfed homes around Gapyeong and floods swept away vehicles as of Sunday, the ministry said.
For those remaining like Ahn, an uncertain future awaits.
"I've run this restaurant for 10 years ... What am I supposed to do now?" said Ahn, as she stood next to the badly damaged structure of her building perched next to a still swollen river.
At times breaking down in tears, the 65-year-old said several of the restaurant's refrigerators were washed away by the flood.
Across South Korea, rain damage had been reported to 1,999 public structures and 2,238 private facilities, including farms, the interior ministry said.
While the rain has eased, the national weather agency has now issued a nationwide heatwave watch.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has ordered a thorough response to the disaster, his office said.
"As local heavy rains have become commonplace, customised measures based on regional characteristics are urgently needed," said Kang Yu-jung, the spokesperson for Lee's office.
"If serious laxity or mistakes are found in civil servants' discipline, we will hold them accountable and thorough measures will be taken to prevent a recurrence."
Lee, who took office in June, has promised to make the country safer and to prevent any repeat of the disasters in recent years that have often been blamed on the inadequate response by authorities.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNA
a day ago
- CNA
Six killed as Tropical Storm Wipha unleashes floods in Thailand
BANGKOK: Floods and landslides triggered by Tropical Storm Wipha since last month have killed six people and affected more than 230,000 people across Thailand, disaster management officials said Saturday (Aug 2). Since Jul 21, heavy rains have inundated 12 provinces, mostly in the northern and central regions, according to Thailand's Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation. "We are closely monitoring the impact of rainstorm Wipha and coordinating with affected provinces to assist those in need," the agency said in a statement on its official Facebook page. Images on social media showed murky floodwaters, sandbags stacked outside homes, and residents using plastic boats to navigate submerged streets. However, the kingdom's meteorological department predicts rainfall will ease in the coming days. While Thailand experiences annual monsoon rains between May and October, scientists say man-made climate change is causing more intense weather patterns that can make destructive floods more likely. Widespread flooding across Thailand in 2011 killed more than 500 people and damaged millions of homes around the country.
CNA
2 days ago
- CNA
Indonesia's Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki erupts again, spews ash plume 18km high
JAKARTA: Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki, one of Indonesia's most active volcanoes, erupted for a second straight day, sending a column of volcanic materials and ash up to 18 kilometres into the sky early Saturday (Aug 2) and blanketing villages with debris. No casualties were immediately reported. Another eruption Friday evening had sent clouds of ash up to 10 kilometres high and had lit up the night sky with glowing lava and bolts of lightning. The two eruptions happened in a span of less than five hours. Indonesia's Geology Agency recorded an avalanche of searing gas clouds mixed with rocks and lava travelling up to 5 kilometres down the slopes of the mountain. Drone observations showed deep movement of magma, setting off tremors that registered on seismic monitors. Volcanic material, including hot thumb-sized gravel, was thrown up to 8 kilometres from the crater, covering nearby villages and towns with thick volcanic residue, the agency said. It asked residents to be vigilant about heavy rainfall that could trigger lava flows in rivers originating from the volcano. Saturday's eruption was one of Indonesia's largest since 2010 when Mount Merapi, the country's most volatile volcano, erupted on the densely populated island of Java. That eruption killed more than 350 people and forced hundreds of thousands to evacuate. It also came less than a month after a major eruption on Jul 7 forced the delay or cancellation of dozens of flights at Bali's Ngurah Rai airport, and covered roads and rice fields with thick, gray mud and rocks. Lewotobi Laki-laki, a 1,584-metre volcano on the remote island of Flores, has been at the highest alert level since it erupted on Jun 18, and an exclusion zone has been doubled to a 7-kilometre radius as eruptions became more frequent. The Indonesian government has permanently relocated thousands of residents after a series of eruptions there killed nine people and destroyed thousands of homes in November. Indonesia is an archipelago of more than 280 million people with frequent seismic activity. It has 120 active volcanoes and sits along the 'Ring of Fire', a horseshoe-shaped series of seismic fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.
CNA
3 days ago
- CNA
Seoul breaks century-long record with 22 'tropical nights' in July
SEOUL: A streak of super-hot tropical nights broke a century-old South Korean weather record, according to official data released Thursday (Jul 31), as the peninsula bakes in a prolonged heatwave. Overnight temperatures in Seoul have sizzled above 25 degrees Celsius for 22 consecutive days in July, officials said Thursday, marking the longest such streak for the month since modern weather records began in October 1907. Such evenings are known as "tropical nights" in South Korea. The capital was also on track to record its hottest July night in history on Wednesday, with the lowest temperature of the day reaching 29.3 degrees Celsius - unless overnight temperatures rise even higher on Thursday. Much of the world is enduring a summer of sweltering weather, with June being the hottest month ever recorded for 12 countries, according to an AFP analysis of data from the European climate monitor Copernicus. The intense heat in Seoul is expected to continue, according to the meteorology office. "The warm air from the North Pacific High began affecting South Korea a bit earlier than usual," Youn Ki-han, director at Seoul's Meteorology Forecast Division, told AFP. "As that influence gradually built up, the heat accumulated, much like interest compounding in a savings account, slowly increasing over time," said Youn. "Normally, if it's hot for just a day, temperatures spike and then quickly return to normal. But when warm conditions persist for several days, the heat doesn't fully dissipate, it lingers and accumulates with each day," he added. Thirteen people have died from suspected heat-related causes so far this year, triple the number from the same period last year, according to data from the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency.
