China News Service, August 9th. According to a comprehensive report, the central region of South Korea has experienced a rare torrential rain in 80 years. So far, 7 people have been killed, 6 people are missing, and 9 people were injured.
The heavy rain also caused many places in Seoul and the capital region to be flooded, traffic was paralyzed, and accidents such as subsidence of foundations and power outages occurred one after another.
On August 8, 2022 local time, Seoul, South Korea was hit by heavy rain.
The picture shows pedestrians and vehicles wading through water in Gangnam District, Seoul.
torrential rain continues
Many roads in Seoul
are flooded, and the way to work is in chaos
According to Yonhap News Agency, on August 8, a rare heavy rain fell in the central region of South Korea in 80 years.
South Korea's Ministry of Administration and Security raised the storm crisis alert from "alert" to "severe" at 1 a.m. on the 9th.
From 0:00 a.m. the previous day to 4:00 a.m. on the same day, the accumulated rainfall in Sindaebang-dong (Meteorological Agency) in Dongjak-gu, Seoul reached 417 mm, and the accumulated rainfall exceeded 300 mm in many places.
Pictures circulating on social media showed that many roads in Seoul, including Gangnam District, were flooded, and the floodwaters also flowed into the steps of underground subway stations, and some subway lines were forced to stop running.
Heavy rain also caused flooding and power outages in some areas, and residents in low-lying areas were evacuated for safety.
Image source: Screenshot of South Korea's MBN TV report.
Video taken by the public also showed the large car almost submerged in water, with only the roof exposed.
More than half of bus stop signs taller than adults were submerged in water.
Pedestrians hug each other tightly when walking in the water to prevent being washed away by the water.
Others walked by leaning against the wall to avoid being swept away by the current.
It is currently impossible to accurately calculate the damage to vehicles from flooding.
For office workers, the commute to get off work on the 8th was in chaos.
Korean media described the "painful commute to work until late at night".
Some office workers ended up giving up on going home and hurriedly booked nearby accommodation.
Image source: Screenshot of a report by Channel News Asia (CNA) in Singapore.
Severely affected
7 dead, 6 missing in torrential rain
South Korea's Central Disaster Safety Countermeasures Headquarters reported on the 9th that as of 6:00 a.m. that day, seven people were killed, 6 people were missing and 9 people were injured in the torrential rain in central areas such as the metropolitan area.
A resident of Seoul's Dongjak district died after his house was flooded.
A civil servant in his 60s in the area died while clearing fallen trees, presumably from electrocution.
Three people were trapped in a semi-basement and drowned in Gwanak-gu, Seoul. The deceased were 46 years old (2 people) and 13 years old (1 person).
A bus stop in Guangzhou, Gyeonggi-do collapsed and overwhelmed one person, and one person was buried in sand after a roadside slope collapsed.
The picture shows pedestrians and vehicles wading through water in Gangnam District, Seoul.
Four people were missing in Seoul, including the underground commercial street passage in Seocho-gu, Seoul. Two people were swept away by rapids due to the flooding of rivers in Guangzhou, Gyeonggi-do.
A total of 163 people in 107 households in Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi Province were affected, and most of them have been moved to places such as schools and gymnasiums.
A total of 273 victims from 165 households in Dongjak-gu, Seoul and Gwangmyeong-si, Gyeonggi-do were temporarily sheltering in residential centers and other places.
In the metropolitan area, protective walls collapsed, dams collapsed, and road slopes collapsed.
80 roads, 3 underground lanes, 26 embankment parking lots, 45 river banks, and 134 visiting roads in 4 national parks have been controlled, and 19 passenger ferry routes have been suspended.
The picture shows people wading through water in the Gangbuk area of Seoul.
As of 6:00 a.m. on the 9th, 650 of the 775 disaster-affected facilities had been repaired.
Firefighters rescued 88 trapped people in rivers in central areas such as Gyeonggi Province, and removed 313 roadblocks such as fallen trees.
South Korea's Ministry of Environment and the Korea Water Resources Corporation said on the 9th that due to the heavy rainfall in the central region, the Zhaoyang River Dam on the upper reaches of the Han River will open its gates again on the 10th to release floods after two years.