Torrential rain pounds South Korea for third day as thousands take shelter
Warnings of torrential rain remained in effect for most of the country's western and southern regions and the weather service advised extreme caution, with landslides and flooding possible through Saturday.
More than 5,000 people were evacuated at one time, but the number of people in shelters had fallen to 3,297 as of 11 a.m., the Interior and Safety Ministry said.
Rainfall of more than 400 millimeters hit some southern regions, including in the city of Gwangju, in the 24 hours to early Friday, the ministry said. Thursday's downpour in Gwangju was the highest daily total in 86 years.
Four people have died in the rains and two were missing, the ministry said. Two were trapped in cars on flooded roads and another died in a basement under floodwater in the central South Chungcheong province, it said.
A driver was killed after a 10-meter-high roadside wall collapsed on top of a moving vehicle on Wednesday in Osan, some 44 kilometers south of Seoul, fire agency officials said.
President Lee Jae Myung has called for a stronger government role in disaster prevention and response, saying that while natural disasters are hard to prevent, more can be done to anticipate damage and warn the public.
"I see there were cases where casualties occurred because of a poor response when the situation was reasonably predictable," he said at an emergency meeting on Friday, calling for all available resources to be deployed.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
NHK
3 days ago
- NHK
Torrential rain in South Korea leaves 14 dead
The death toll from heavy rainfall in South Korea has risen to 14. Twelve people are still missing. Authorities are continuing search and rescue efforts. The Ministry of the Interior and Safety released the figures as of 10 a.m. on Sunday. It says the tally covered the five-day period from Wednesday. Torrential rain swept across much of South Korea over the past several days, causing damage primarily in mountainous areas in the country's south and north. South Korean media reported that Sancheong in South Gyeongsang Province saw about 800 millimeters of rain over a 5-day period starting Wednesday. The reports said the downpours triggered flooding and landslides, with eight people confirmed dead and six others missing as of Sunday morning. They also said the disaster forced more than 2,000 people to evacuate from their homes. Reports from Gapyeong in Gyeonggi Province say two people have been killed and four others are missing after heavy rainfall destroyed houses and swept away a vehicle.
NHK
3 days ago
- NHK
Heavy rain in South Korea leaves 10 people dead, 8 missing
Heavy rain in South Korea has left 10 people dead and eight missing since Wednesday. The Ministry of the Interior and Safety released the numbers as of 5 a.m. on Sunday. Downpours have affected wide areas of the country. South Korean media report that a total of 800 millimeters of rain pounded Sancheong in the southern region of Gyeong sangnam-do in the past five days. The rain triggered floods and landslides in the area on Saturday. Six people were confirmed dead and six others were unaccounted for in Sancheong as of Sunday morning. Rescue efforts are underway. Reports say more than 3,000 people were evacuated from their homes. Some roads have been flooded and power outages have occurred in Sancheong and adjacent areas. Recovery efforts are ongoing.
Japan Times
3 days ago
- Japan Times
At least one dead as South Korea rain toll rises to 11
At least one person was killed and four missing during heavy downpours Sunday in South Korea, officials said, bringing the death toll to 11 from torrential rains that have lashed the country in recent days. Close to 170 millimeters of rain hit Gapyeong County in Gyeonggi province, 70 kilometers east of Seoul, early Sunday. "We expect at least four missing now on top of one dead in Gapyeong," an interior ministry official said. The total number of deaths from the five-day deluge is now at least 11, according to official data. A woman in her 70s was killed when her house collapsed in a landslide around 4:40 a.m. Sunday in Gapyeong, the Yonhap news agency reported. Most of the deaths have occurred in the southern county of Sancheong, which has seen nearly 800 mm of rain since Wednesday. South Korea typically experiences monsoon rains in July and is usually well-prepared. But last week, the country's southern regions were hit by especially intense downpours, with some of the heaviest hourly rainfall on record, official weather data showed. Scientists say climate change has made extreme weather events more frequent and intense around the world. In 2022, South Korea endured record-breaking rains and flooding, which killed at least 11 people.
