Image: Reuters Berita 24 English - Authorities reported on Tuesday that at least seven people died in and around Seoul , the capital of Sout...
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| Image: Reuters |
Berita 24 English - Authorities reported on Tuesday that at least seven people died in and around Seoul, the capital of South Korea, over the course of the previous night as a result of torrential rain that caused power outages, slides, and drowned roadways and subways.
According to the Korea Meteorological Administration, the southern section of Seoul had late-Monday rain at a rate of more than 100mm (3.9 inches) per hour, with certain areas of the city receiving 141.5mm, the heaviest rainfall in decades (KMA).
As of 5 a.m. Tuesday, Seoul had received 420mm of rain overall since midnight on Monday, and additional rain was predicted.
Many buildings and stores in the opulent, densely populated Gangnam district were inundated, without power, and others were also submerged, stranding people in their cars, buses, and subway stations.
According to Lee Dongha, a 27-year-old office worker in Seoul, "I was near Gangnam station yesterday night as the rainfall worsened, with thunder and lightning striking every 30 seconds." "Bus stops, subway stations, and streets all suddenly became submerged, and I promptly decided to reserve an accommodation since I didn't want to be left stranded."
The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters reported that by early Tuesday, at least five individuals had passed away in Seoul and two more in the nearby Gyeonggi Province. According to the report, five people perished as a result of being trapped in flooded buildings, one was thought to have been electrocuted, one was discovered underneath a bus stop, and another perished in a landslide.
Six persons were reported missing, and at least nine people were hurt.
The headquarters increased the level of crisis alert and asked organisations to modify their operating hours.
The 26 million-person metropolitan area surrounding the capital, as well as portions of Gangwon and Chungcheong Province, all received heavy rain warnings from the KMA.
According to the disaster headquarters, President Yoon Suk-yeol presided over a meeting on emergency response and directed officials to concentrate on preventing casualties and swiftly managing and recovering flooded areas.
The KMA anticipates that the country's central region will continue to see severe precipitation at least until Wednesday.
While South Korea regularly sees heavy summer rains, a KMA official who spoke on the record and on the condition of anonymity told Reuters that "such fast increase in precipitation and frequent torrential rains cannot be explained without the large trend of climate change." "Climate change has led to a protracted summer, which is seen occurring more frequently as a result of this occurrence."
