South Korea: torrential rains leave at least nine dead and several missing
Seoul and its region just suffered record rainfall, considered the heaviest in 115 years, causing flash floods and submerging many roads and buildings.
AFP - ANTHONY WALLACE
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
In one day, some areas received the equivalent of a month's worth of rain.
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These are scenes worthy of a disaster movie.
The flash floods that occurred overnight from Monday to Tuesday in the south of the South Korean capital gave way this Tuesday morning to tangles of cars abandoned in the streets by drivers trapped by the rising waters, reports our correspondent in Seoul,
Louis Palligiano
.
Dramatic footage shared Monday night on social media showed people wading through waist-deep water, overflowing subway stations and half-submerged cars in Seoul's upscale Gangnam district.
According to the Yonhap news agency, the rainfall that fell on the capital and its region was the heaviest in 80 years.
The latest report shows at least nine dead, six missing and 441 residents of the metropolitan area had to leave their homes in a hurry.
Among the deceased, three women, members of the same family, found themselves prisoners of their submerged semi-basement apartment.
A new storm by Thursday
After presiding over an emergency government meeting on the response to the heavy rains, President Yoon Suk-yeol went there to meet with local residents and understand the cause of the tragedy.
The president ordered government officials to evacuate residents from at-risk areas and encouraged businesses to allow their employees to work flexible hours on Tuesday morning.
“
Nothing is more precious than life and safety.
The government will carefully manage the heavy rain situation
,” he wrote on his Facebook account.
The Korea Meteorological Agency (KMA) predicts another round of torrential rain is expected to hit the capital region by Thursday.
Residents are therefore urged to "
watch out for heavy rain, gusts, as well as thunder and lightning in the central region
" in the coming days.
Up to 300 millimeters of additional rain was forecast for the central region, including Seoul, through Thursday, the same source detailed.
[BREAKING NEWS] Heavy rain causes flooding, power outages in Seoul.
(Photos courtesy of readers) pic.twitter.com/0gl6zaMu0W
— The Korea Herald 코리아헤럴드 (@TheKoreaHerald) August 8, 2022
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