World Courant
Highly effective monsoon rains swept throughout South Korea, burying properties, toppling bushes, canceling flights and trains and chopping 1000’s of residents off energy, officers mentioned Saturday.
The fallout triggered flooding and landslides within the central and southern areas of the nation, killing not less than seven folks and three others lacking Saturday morning, the inside ministry mentioned, including that rainfall is predicted to proceed within the coming days. enhance.
Heavy monsoon rains are typical in South Korea in summer time, and its mountainous topography makes it susceptible to landslides.
On Friday and Saturday, 5 folks died in homes and buildings collapsed by landslides, and one individual was buried in earth and sand, the ministry mentioned. mentioned in an announcement. A seventh individual died after a highway collapsed beneath.
A dam in central South Korea overflowed Saturday morning, prompting the evacuation of tons of of residents dwelling downstream. A prepare derailed Friday evening when soil encroached on a railroad observe, although no casualties have been reported.
Greater than 1,500 residents have evacuated their properties since Thursday, based on the ministry’s assertion, which referred to as for emergency staff to assist evacuate residents and conduct rescue efforts.
The Korea Meteorological Administration mentioned on Saturday that rain would strengthen over the subsequent two days, primarily within the central and southwestern a part of the nation.
The South Korean authorities has been on excessive alert this month, with high officers stressing the significance of security in the course of the monsoon season. That sense of urgency intensified over the weekend, as reviews of deaths and accidents started to come back in.
“If there may be even a slight likelihood of hazard, overreaction is the precept of this response to heavy rain,” Prime Minister Han Duck-soo mentioned on Saturday, mobilizing the military to affix the rescue efforts. President Yoon Suk Yeol had ordered a “full response” from the federal government on Thursday.
Components of central South Korea got here below a heavy rain warning Saturday morning, with as much as 1.6 inches anticipated in a single hour in some locations later within the day, the ministry mentioned.
The monsoon season in South Korea often begins in June and ends in early August. The remainder of the yr is generally dry and sunny, and spring brings the danger of wildfires.
The nation suffered heavy casualties and accepted humanitarian help from North Korea in 1984. However extra not too long ago, annual deaths from flooding have been within the single digits, apart from 2011, 2020 and 2022.
Final August, among the heaviest rains in a long time resulted within the deaths of not less than 14 folks rural. In 2020, weeks of intermittent rain brought on flooding and landslides throughout the nation, killing 48 folks. In 2011, greater than 70 folks died, together with 17 who died when mudslides crashed into residential buildings in southern Seoul.
Flooding and landslides in South Korea after heavy rain
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