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| A park near Banpo Bridge, located on the southern side of Han River in Seoul, is submerged, Monday, due to torrential rains that have been pounding the country's interior regions since the weekend. / Korea Times photo by Lee Han-ho |
By Jun Ji-hye
The country's interior regions including Seoul are expected to suffer heavier rains until later this week as the country comes under the influence of Typhoon Hagupit, the state-run weather agency said Monday, warning of additional losses of life and property damage.
The Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) forecast that the central regions will continue to receive rainfall of 50 millimeters to 100 millimeters per hour, along with strong wind, thunder and lightning until Wednesday.
The accumulated precipitation from Saturday to Wednesday will stand at up to 500 millimeters, the agency noted.
"Additional heavy rains are raising concerns over more landslides and floods," a KMA official said. "Thorough preparations for disaster situations are necessary. People in dangerous areas are required to evacuate in advance."
The fourth typhoon of the season, which took shape 590 kilometers south of Okinawa at 9 p.m. Saturday, was moving northward at a speed of 17 kilometers per hour from waters 380 kilometers southeast of Taipei as of 3 p.m. Sunday, according to the weather agency.
The agency noted the typhoon will arrive at the southeastern coast of China at dawn Tuesday.
Amid torrential rains that have been pounding the country since the weekend, a factory building in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, which manufactures parts for semiconductor equipment, collapsed at 10:49 a.m., Monday, after it was hit by a mudslide, leaving at least three people dead and one seriously injured, according to the local fire department.
"We are carrying out an additional search operation in case more workers are still buried," an official from the fire department said.
In Gapyeong, also in Gyeonggi Province, a family of three including a two-year-old boy were killed after a guesthouse operated by the family was engulfed in a mudslide.
Torrential rains have also led to the closure of some roads and low-lying bridges in the capital region due to rising water levels of the Han River and Jungnang Stream.
According to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, the Dongbu Expressway was shut down in both directions from 5:05 a.m. to 4 p.m. as a precautionary measure, while the low-level Jamsu Bridge has remained closed to both drivers and pedestrians since Sunday.
District officials also rushed to send disaster warning texts to local residents.
"We placed Jungnang Stream off limits to residents as water levels there are rising rapidly," an official from Jungnang-gu Office said.
According to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters under the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, 591 homes in Gyeonggi, Gangwon and North Chungcheong provinces were flooded due to heavy rains, forcing 919 residents to evacuate as of 4 p.m., Monday.
The headquarters added about 2,300 hectares of agricultural lands have been damaged.
A heavy rain warning is in place across the Seoul metropolitan area, Gangwon and North Chungcheong provinces, the weather agency said, noting that such a warning is issued when more than 90 millimeters of rainfall is forecast in the next three hours or more than 180 millimeters in the next 12 hours.
For its part, the Korea Forest Service upgraded the four-tier landslide alert level to the third-highest for central parts of the nation.
In North Chungcheong Province that reported the death of four people Sunday, the local fire department is continuing a search operation for missing persons, according to officials there.
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