Lee Hae-rin is a City Desk reporter at The Korea Times, covering social issues, tourism and taekwondo. She is passionate about speaking up for the rights of minorities, including women, LGBTQ+, people with disabilities and animals as well as discovering the latest makgeolli trend in town. Feel free to reach her at lhr@koreatimes.co.kr.
Heavy monsoon rains leave at least 37 dead, 9 missing
Rescue workers attempt to enter a bus that became submerged in a flooded tunnel, Sunday, in Osong, North Chungcheong Province. Emergency services personnel work to drain the tunnel behind the bus. Yonhap
By Lee Hae-rin
Floods, landslides force over 8,000 to be evacuated from homes
By Lee Hae-rin
Heavy monsoon rains left at least 37 people dead and nine missing in Korea, safety authorities said, Sunday. The downpours, which started Thursday, left a trail of destruction across the country causing floods and landslides that forced over 8,000 people to evacuate.
The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters said as of 6 p.m., Sunday, nine of the 37 confirmed deaths occurred in a flooded underpass in the Osong area of Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province. The 430-meter-long underpass was flooded on Saturday when a nearby river overflowed after an embankment collapsed due to heavy rain.
The death toll from the Osong flood is expected to rise further as the rescue operation is still underway for 15 vehicles and many are believed to be trapped inside the underpass. The exact number of victims has yet to be determined and an official figure has not been released by the safety authorities.
According to official figures, most of the fatalities came from North Gyeongsang Province that saw 19 deaths, followed by 13 in North Chungcheong Province, four in South Chungcheong Province and one in Sejong City.
Amid the downpours, 8,852 people in 98 regions and counties were evacuated due to rain damage. Among them, 26 percent are in North Chungcheong Province, 27 percent in South Chungcheong Province and 29 percent in North Gyeongsang Province.
The annual monsoon season has wreaked havoc on the country's farmland, causing flooding and landslides that destroyed 19,769 hectares of crops, which is over one fourth the size of Seoul.
Firefighters and soldiers conduct a rescue mission near a flooded underground tunnel in Osong, North Chungcheong Province, Sunday. Yonhap
The heavy downpours inflicted damage on 215 public structures, 68 of which are in North Chungcheong Province, resulting in the destruction of roads, collapses of retaining walls and embankments and landslides.
Power outages occurred in 27,261 households across the country since Thursday morning, while electricity supply was restored to 98 percent of them as of Sunday.
A search and rescue operation is underway in Yecheon, North Gyeongsang Province, where nine people are reported dead and eight missing from a landslide. Over 2,400 rescue operators, including local firefighters, police and soldiers are continuing their search in five areas of Yecheon.
President Yoon Suk Yeol, who was on a trip to central Europe, hosted a video meeting with the safety authorities in Poland, Sunday (local time).
According to senior presidential secretary for public relations Kim Eun-hye, Yoon ordered an urgent review of the damage and rescue efforts due to the severe rainfall and expressed deep condolences to the bereaved families of those who died due to the floods.
The president also highlighted the importance of preemptive measures and urged the police to implement speedy evacuations of residents of lowland areas.
A firefighter and a rescue dog search for missing people at a landslide site in Yecheon, North Gyeongsang Province, Sunday. The town saw five households get buried under the landslide, leaving nine dead and eight missing. Yonhap
More rain expected
Cheongyang, a county in South Chungcheong Province, experienced the heaviest rainfall totaling 569.5 millimeters since Thursday, followed by Gongju, South Chungcheong Province that saw 510 millimeters, Iksan, North Jeolla Province with 498.5 millimeters, Sejong City with 484.9 millimeters, Mungyeong, North Gyeongsang Province with 483 millimeters and Cheungju, North Chungcheong Province with 472 millimeters.
Seoul experienced a lull in the heavy rainfall Sunday, but the Olympic-daero riverside expressway and the submersible Jamsu Bridge crossing the Han River have been closed off to traffic due to rising water levels.
A heavy rain advisory was issued Sunday for Gangwon Province's inland regions, the Chungcheong provinces, and the southern Jeju regions. Meanwhile, South Jeolla and Gyeongsang provinces experienced heavy rainfall of 20 to 40 millimeters per hour.
According to the weather agency, further rainfall, peaking at 300 millimeters, is forecast for the Chungcheong provinces, North Jeolla and Gyeongsang provinces between Sunday and Tuesday. The greater Seoul area is expected to receive between 50 to 60 millimeters of more rain.
As the torrential rainfall continues nationwide, the Korea Forest System issued a Level 4 landslide alert, the highest in the four-tier system, Saturday, across the country, except for Jeju Island.
The state-run rail operator, Korea Railroad Corp. (Korail), has suspended all Saemaeul and Mugunghwa services, while some lanes of KTX train services, including those on the Seoul-Busan and Yongsan-Mokpo Yeosu routes, were also halted.