At least nine people have died after torrential rains in South Korea. In parts of the capital Seoul, meteorologists have recorded the highest amounts of precipitation in decades.
Hundreds of buildings were damaged, power supplies partially collapsed, landslides were triggered and roads were flooded, officials said on Tuesday. Hundreds of people had to be evacuated from their homes.
maximum alert
The civil protection center called the highest alert level. The KMA weather service has issued a warning for the greater Seoul area, with its 26 million people, and parts of nearby provinces. The forecast was that heavy rain in the center of the state would continue until at least Wednesday.
Placements in schools and community facilities
According to authorities, at least nine people were injured and as of Tuesday night (local time), six people were still missing, South Korean broadcasters reported. Many of those affected were accommodated in schools, gyms and other community facilities.
Lim Na Kyung, a 31-year-old office worker, told Portal how water entered the building where she was staying on Monday night. She felt like she was in the 1997 movie “Titanic.” “I had to keep going higher and higher because the building was sinking fast,” said the mother of two. She was in jail with 40 other people. She ended up spending the night at a Pilates center on the fourth floor.
Nine killed by heavy rain
In the area, a city official was reportedly killed trying to clear a fallen tree. He is believed to have died as a result of an electric shock. Three people drowned in his basement apartment in Gwanak district. In the same neighborhood, a body was recovered from an apartment that was also flooded. One body was recovered from the rubble of a collapsed bus stop in Gyeonggi Province, and another person was killed in a landslide.
North Korea also issued a heavy rain warning on Tuesday. According to North Korean radio reports, the alert affects the southern parts of the country. There were no reports of damage in the largely isolated country.
Increased rainfall due to climate change
While heavy rains are common in South Korea in summer, such a sharp increase in precipitation and frequent torrential rains cannot be explained without climate change, said a weather service official, who declined to be named. The phenomenon is becoming more common due to longer summers caused by global warming.
Biggest rain in 80 years
The capital region has been hit by heavy rains since Monday. The meteorological department announced more heavy rain. The highest amount of rainfall in 80 years was measured in the Dongjak district of southern Seoul, as reported by the Yonhap national news agency, citing the meteorology department.
At one point, more than 141 liters of rain per square meter per hour fell there. President Yoon Suk Yeol instructed authorities to evacuate people from areas most at risk from the floods.