At least eight people have died in South Korea after record overnight rainfall hammered the capital Seoul, turning streets into rivers, submerging vehicles and inundating metro stations.
Rainfall of more than 100mm an hour was recorded in Seoul, surrounding areas of Gyeonggi province and the port city of Incheon on Monday night, according to the Yonhap news agency. Per-hour precipitation in the Dongjak district surpassed 141.5mm at one point, the heaviest hourly downpour in Seoul for 80 years.
Commuters slowly returned to work on Tuesday after cleanup crews worked through the night, but there were concerns about further damage as torrential rain was forecast for the second day in a row.
The Korea meteorological administration issued heavy rain warnings across the capital and the metropolitan area of 26 million, as well parts of Gangwon and Chungcheong province. It said it expected heavy rainfall in the central region of the country to continue until at least Wednesday.
Officials said six people were missing as of Tuesday afternoon, as images shared on social media showed people wading through waist-deep water, metro stations overflowing, and cars half-submerged in the upmarket Gangnam district.
“I was near Gangnam station last night when the rainfall intensified, with thunder and lightning striking every 30 seconds,” said Lee Dongha, an office worker. “All of a sudden, buses, subway stations and streets were submerged, and that’s when I quickly decided to book accommodation as I didn’t want to be left with nowhere to go.”
According to local reports, three people, including a 13-year-old, in the Gwanak district of southern Seoul died after their semi-basement banjiha flat – similar to the one that featured in the Oscar-winning movie Parasite – was inundated by floodwater.
Another woman drowned at her home in the nearby Dongjak district. A public sector worker died while clearing up fallen tires, apparently after he stepped into water that had been electrified by damaged power lines, according to the interior ministry.
Three people were found dead in the debris of a collapsed bus station and a landslide in the nearby city of Gwangju.
The country’s president, Yoon Suk-yeol, ordered the evacuation of residents from high-risk areas and encouraged businesses to adjust their employees’ commuting times.
“Nothing is more precious than life and safety,” Yoon wrote on his Facebook page. “The government will thoroughly manage the heavy rain situation.”
While most of the Seoul metropolitan area’s subway services had resumed normal operations on Tuesday, about 80 roads and dozens of riverside parking lots remained closed due to safety concerns.
South Korea is no stranger to heavy rainfall in the summer, but a meteorological administration official said the climate emergency had caused a sharp increase in precipitation and frequent torrential rains.
“This phenomenon is occurring more often due to climate change, which has resulted in a prolonged summer,” the official said on condition of anonymity.
Rainstorms also pounded North Korea, where authorities issued heavy rain warnings for the southern and western parts of the country. The official Rodong Sinmun newspaper described the rain as potentially “disastrous” and called for measures to protect farmland and prevent flooding on the Taedong river, which flows through the capital Pyongyang.
