World

Seoul Flooding Kills at Least 7


SEOUL – At least seven people were killed when some of the heaviest downpours in decades hit the Seoul area overnight, flooding homes, streets and subway stations, South Korean officials said today. Tuesday.

Three of the dead, two sisters in their 40s and a 13-year-old girl, were found early Tuesday morning as emergency workers pumped floodwaters. their half-basement house south of Seoul. Another, a city employee, was apparently electrocuted while clearing a fallen tree on the sidewalk, police said.

In addition to the seven confirmed deaths, officials say six are missing after floodwaters dragged them into manholes, underground passages or streams.

Weather officials said nearly 17 inches of rain fell in southern Seoul from early Monday to early Tuesday, roughly the amount that falls in a typical summer month, weather officials said. In one district, 5.4 inches fell in an hour, breaking Seoul’s 80-year-old record.

The Korea Meteorological Agency said there will be more heavy rains on Tuesday in the capital area and its eastern and southern provinces.

Flooding turned Seoul’s Monday night rush hour into chaos. Several subway stations were closed and drivers abandoned their cars in the upscale Gangnam district because the roads were impassable. Homes and other buildings lost power.

Photos on social media showed passengers wading through waist-deep water, drivers stuck on top of cars and rainwater pouring down the steps of a subway station. Some images from Tuesday morning, after the flood receded, resembled a disaster movie, with cars strewn across the city streets.

Hiking paths in the mountains around Seoul were closed on Tuesday, and the government issued a warning that landslides were possible. Businesses have been urged to adjust their working hours so employees can avoid traffic jams and potential hazards.

President Yoon Suk-yeol, whose approval rating has plummeted since he took office in May, said on Facebook that he had “ordered relevant government agencies to evacuate people from hazardous areas to avoid human casualties”.

North Korea has also suffered heavy rainfall in recent weeks. Some of the bodies found in South Korea near the border last month were believed to belong to flood victims who were swept downstream from the North, South Korean police said. .

In the past, floods have also brought land mines from the North to the South. Officials warned South Koreans living near the border to exercise caution, saying North Korea has released floodwater from nearby dams.



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