By Kim Rahn
Heavy rain pounded Seoul and the central regions of Korea Monday, increasing the cumulative death toll nationwide to 12 and flooding or destroying more than 350 houses.
The weather agency forecast more downpours through Friday.
The front, which unleashed torrential rain mainly in southern parts of the country over the weekend, moved northward to central areas.
Heavy rain warnings and alerts were issued in Seoul and Incheon, and Gyeonggi, Gangwon and Chungcheong Provinces, where 250 millimeters of rain was forecast until today.
The relentless rain since last Friday has killed 12 people and left three missing, according to the National Emergency Management Agency. Most of the victims were crushed to death by landslides.
Some 350 people had their houses inundated or destroyed, and were forced to take shelter at community centers. More than 31,000 hectares of farmlands were also flooded.
Flood warnings were issued at villages along the Nakdong River in southeastern parts of the country; while dams on the upper Han River in Gyeonggi Province discharged 5,000 tons of water per second.
A dozen roads were blocked nationwide, while about 100 trekking routes in mountainous national parks were closed.
The Korea Meteorological Administration forecast the rain will fall again Tuesday afternoon, bringing 250 millimeters of rainfall along with strong winds, thunder and lightning.
The rain front is likely to hover over the central parts of the peninsula for a while, a weatherman said.
“We forecast torrential rain mainly in the central region through Friday. People should take precautions to prevent damage from landslides such as facility destruction. We expect the rain front to move towards North Korea over the weekend, with the rain in the South stopping,” he said.
According to the weather agency, Seoul has received some 560 millimeters of rainfall since the rainy season started on June 22, about four times the average.
“This rain front is moving up and down the peninsula and the amount of rainfall is larger than usual, partly because of Typhoon Meari at the end of last month,” it said.