Heavy rains drenchedSouth Korea'smetropolitan area, turning streets in Seoul's affluent Gangnam district into rivers, submerging cars and overwhelming public transport. rice field. At least seven people were killed and six went missing.
Commuters slowly returned to work Tuesday morning after emergency workers worked through the night to clean up much of the clutter. However, there were concerns about further damage, such as heavy rain expected for two days in a row.
Most subway services in the Seoul metropolitan area have returned to normal operations, but about 80 roads and dozens of riverside parking lots remain closed over safety concerns. .
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President Yun Suk-yeol It called on public officials and private companies to adjust commute times, and urged aggressive action to restore damaged facilities and evacuate people in at-risk areas to prevent more deaths.
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The rain started Monday morning and intensified through the evening. Nearly 800 buildings were damaged in Seoul and neighboring cities, and more than 400 people were displaced, according to the Ministry of Interior and Security.
On Monday night, people were seen wading through thigh-high bodies of water in a street near Gangnam subway station in one of Seoul's busiest business and leisure districts. was taken. Cars, taxis and buses were stuck in muddy waters. Commuters were evacuated as water cascaded down the stairs of the Isu subway station. In the nearby city of Seongnam, a rain-weakened hillside collapsed into a college football field.
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Rescuers called for help before he drowned in an underground house in the Gwanak district of southern Seoul. Monday night when I couldn't contact the three people. Another woman drowned at her home in the nearby Dongjak district. She is believed to have been electrocuted while a civil servant was clearing a fallen tree. Dongjak-gu office official Choi Seon-young said it was not immediately clear whether the water supply had turned the electricity on because the power supply and equipment the man was using had been damaged.
Two bodies were found in the debris and landslides of a collapsed bus station in nearby Gwangju.
country The Korea Meteorological Administration maintains heavy rain warnings on Tuesday, saying precipitation in the Seoul metropolitan area and surrounding areas could reach 5 to 10 centimeters (2 to 4 inches) per hour in some areas. I was.
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From Monday to Tuesday at 9 a.m., 42 cm (16.5 in) in Seoul's hardest-hit Dongjak district ) was observed. Hourly precipitation in the area topped 14 centimeters (5.5 inches) at some point Monday night. This was the largest hourly rainfall measured in Seoul since 1942. A warning to the south and west of the country. The North Korean Rodong Sinmun newspaper called the rains potentially "disastrous" and called for measures to protect farmland and prevent flooding of the Taedong River, which flows through the capital Pyongyang.
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