1 killed as South Korea rain death toll rises to 11
Close to 170mm of rain hit Gapyeong county in Gyeonggi province - located 70km east of Seoul - early on Sunday.
"We expect at least four missing now on top of one dead in Gapyeong," an interior ministry official told AFP.
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 4.40am on Sunday in Gapyeong, Yonhap news agency reported.
Most of the deaths have occurred in the southern county of Sancheong, which has seen nearly 800mm of rain since Wednesday.
South Korea typically experiences monsoon rains in July and is usually well-prepared. But this 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.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNA
14 hours ago
- CNA
Rain in northern China kills 2, forces thousands to relocate
HONG KONG: Heavy rain around Beijing and across north and northeast China has killed two and forced thousands to relocate as authorities warned of further widespread rain and risks of disasters including landslides and flooding. Two were dead and two missing in Hebei province, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Sunday (Jul 27) morning. Overnight rain dumped a record 145mm per hour on Fuping in the industrial city of Baoding. China's Water Resources Ministry has issued targeted flood warnings to 11 provinces and regions, including Beijing and neighbouring Hebei, for floods from small and midsize rivers and mountain torrents. Floods and landslides affected many villages in the Miyun district of the capital, with the rural town of Fengjiayu the most severely impacted and electricity and communications cut in some villages, CCTV said. More than 3,000 people have been transferred out of the area, Beijing News Radio reported on Sunday. Beijing issued a warning on Saturday for geological disasters, including landslides and mudslides, after intense rainfall unleashed, for a second time, a year's worth of rain on nearby Baoding. Northern China has experienced record precipitation in recent years, exposing densely populated cities, including Beijing, to flood risks. Some scientists link the increased rainfall in China's usually arid north to global warming. The storms are part of the broader pattern of extreme weather across China due to the East Asian monsoon, which has caused disruptions in the world's second-largest economy. Baoding's Xizhuang station recorded 540mm over an eight-hour period, exceeding Baoding's average annual rainfall of about 500mm. The deluge affected more than 46,000 people, forcing 4,655 to evacuate, CCTV reported. Chinese authorities closely monitor extreme rainfall and severe flooding are, as they challenge the country's ageing flood defences, threaten to displace millions and wreak havoc on China's US$2.8 trillion agricultural sector.
Straits Times
21 hours ago
- Straits Times
Fire in France forces evacuation of tourists near southern beaches
Find out what's new on ST website and app. A Canadair firefighting plane dropping water on a wildfire near Sigean, southwestern France, on July 26. TOULOUSE, France - A fire in the south of France was spreading towards a beach resort late on July 26, forcing the evacuation of two campgrounds and some local housing. Driven by strong winds, the fire in the Aude department on the Mediterranean coast, near the Spanish border, had already burned through 600 hectares after breaking out earlier in the afternoon, local officials said. Some 630 firefighters backed by about a dozen planes were battling the fire, according to the department's deputy prefect Remi Recio. Smoke from the fire was causing backups on the A9 coastal highway, AFP reporters said, though the key route to Spain remained open. Flames destroyed two houses and local officials converted a local gymnasium into a shelter, although the residents of about 10 evacuated houses were later allowed to return home. As a precautionary measure, the prefecture later ordered the evacuation of two campsites and a housing estate in the commune of Port-la-Nouvelle on the coast. Three fire fighters were treated for smoke inhalation. The national weather service had placed the Aude department on orange alert for a 'high risk' of fire on July 26. The fire comes less than a month after the Aude department was hit by a major blaze that swept through 2,100 hectares near Narbonne, mobilising 1,000 firefighters. AFP
CNA
2 days ago
- CNA
Boats bring Philippine flood victims to safety as death toll rises
BULACAN, Philippines: Rescuers in the northern Philippines used boats to pick up residents stranded by flooding on Friday (Jul 25) as Typhoon Co-May was downgraded to a tropical storm and the death toll from a week of monsoon rains edged higher. Schools remained closed and electricity was down in swathes of the archipelago nation's largest island as the national disaster agency reported 25 dead and eight missing since last Friday. But those numbers did not account for three construction workers buried in a landslide as they rested Thursday in Cavite province, south of the capital Manila, according to rescuers. A wall above their construction site collapsed onto the men below after days of rain softened the soil under it, said rescue team member Rosario Jose. "All the bodies were found in the mud," she said. A lone survivor was pulled from the rubble. In the west coast province of La Union, where Typhoon Co-May arrived in the early hours, a family of four was rescued Friday morning after being trapped on the second floor of their wooden home. "They couldn't leave their house because the flood was waist-deep and they have children," said a rescue official who asked not to be named as they were not authorised to speak to media. "Many had been calling us since early morning, but we were having challenges in responding because the rain and winds were so strong," they said, adding that a break in the downpour meant rescue operations were now in full stride. In Bulacan province, just north of Manila, AFP journalists saw entire villages half submerged in floodwaters. Lauro Sabino, 54, said he and his wife had evacuated their home in the morning after a frightening night of hard winds. "It was as if my roof was being blown off. It was creaking. The rain poured the entire night," he said, adding they would sleep at a local market until flooding subsided. "The same thing happens every time. There's no solution," agreed Mary Rose Navia, 25, a housewife whose husband was unable to go to work on Friday. "The floodwaters are just getting deeper." President Ferdinand Marcos on Thursday explicitly tied the recent flooding to climate change, saying his country had to accept this was the "new normal". "This is the way it's going to be as far as we know for ... many decades to come, so let's just prepare," he said in a televised cabinet briefing.
