At least seven people have died and six are missing in Seoul, South Korea’s capital, after torrential rain knocked out power, caused landslides and flooded homes and the city’s subway system. The southern part of Seoul was inundated with more than 100 mm (3.9 in) of rain an hour later on Monday, with rain reaching 141.5 mm (5.7 in) per hour in some parts of the city, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA). The downpour was the heaviest in 80 years.At least five people died in Seoul, while two were killed in nearby Geyonggi province by Tuesday morning, the Central Disaster and Safety Management Headquarters said.
Three of the victims were people living in banjiha – cramped basement apartments of the type depicted in Bong Joon-ho’s Oscar-winning Parasite – in Seoul’s Gwanak district. The teenager was among the three and that the family said they were trapped in their basement home on Monday night. They were later found dead. Disaster officials said a fourth person also died in Seoul after being trapped in a flooded building, while another was believed to have been electrocuted while trying to clear a fallen tree from a roadside.
In Gwangju city, Geyonggi province, one person was found under the rubble of a collapsed bus station, while another died after being buried by a landslide. At least nine people were injured, six are missing. In Seoul’s glitzy Gangnam district, some buildings and shops were flooded and without power on Tuesday, while cars, buses and subway stations were submerged, leaving people trapped. “I was near Gangnam Station last night when the rain got heavier and thunder and lightning struck every 30 seconds,” said Lee Dongha, a 27-year-old civil servant in Seoul.
President Yoon Suk-yeol ordered government officials to evacuate residents from high-risk areas
Suddenly the buses, metro stations and streets were under water, so I quickly decided to book accommodation as I didn’t want to be stranded and have nowhere to go. ‘President Yoon Suk-yeol ordered government officials to evacuate residents from high-risk areas and urged businesses to allow employees flexible commuting hours on Tuesday morning. “Nothing is more valuable than life and safety. The government will thoroughly handle the situation with heavy rain,” he wrote on his Facebook account.
The Interior Ministry raised the flood warning level to “severe” on Tuesday, while the Korea Forest Service issued landslide warnings in 46 cities and districts across the country, including nine districts in Seoul, according to Yonhap. Meanwhile, the KMA maintained a heavy rain warning for the Seoul metropolitan area, home to 26 million people, on Tuesday, saying rainfall could reach 50 to 100 mm per hour (2 to 4 inches) in some areas. He expects heavy rainfall in the central part of the country to continue until at least Wednesday. While South Korea often experiences heavy rains in the summer, “such a sharp increase in rainfall and frequent torrential rains cannot be explained without a major climate change trend,” a KMA official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.”This phenomenon is occurring more frequently due to climate change resulting in longer summers.”
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