Eight deaths, seven missing as heavy rains continue in greater Seoul area

Social Affairs

Published: 09 Aug. 2022, 10:42 Updated: 09 Aug. 2022, 17:20

Eight deaths, seven missing as heavy rains continue in greater Seoul area

A road near Daechi Station in Gangnam District is flooded due to heavy rain Monday evening. [YONHAP]

Casualties were reported Tuesday morning as heavy rain poured across the greater Seoul area throughout Monday evening, with seven deaths and seven people missing. A total of 163 people were evacuated from their homes.

According to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, by Tuesday, eight people had died and seven were missing due to the rain and subsequent inundation of much of the southern districts of Seoul and parts of Gyeonggi and Incheon.

The exterior of a buildling in Gwanak District where three people were found dead after being trapped in a semi-basement apartment of the buildling Monday. [YONHAP]

Three of the eight found dead were trapped in a semi-basement apartment in Gwanak District, southern Seoul, due to flooding around 9 p.m. Monday. Neighbors and the local fire department tried to rescue them but were unsuccessful.

Another casualty occurred at around 6:50 p.m. Monday in Dongjak District, southern Seoul, when a man in his 60s, who was cleaning up trees that had fallen due to the pouring rain, died. The cause of death is believed to be electric shock from a nearby utility pole. One more death was reported in the same district, due to a house flood.

Two other deaths took place in Gwangju, Gyeonggi, where one person was found dead under the remains of a collapsed bus stop, and another died due to a mudslide of a roadside slope. The last death happened in Hwaseong, where a person died while trapped under another mudslide.

Four of the seven missing people were last seen in Seoul while the other two first went missing in Gwangju and one more in Hoengseong.

A total of 163 people in Seoul and Gyeonggi were evacuated from their residences to nearby schools and gyms.

An exit at Isu Station in Dongjak District is flooded due to heavy rain Monday evening. [YONHAP]

Public facilities in the metropolitan area were severely damaged, including flooded railway lines. Isu Station on Line 4 suffered a ceiling collapse, and subways temporarily suspended stopping at the station Monday evening.

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety raised the flood alert from “warning” to “severe” at 1 a.m. Tuesday.

The accumulated precipitation amounted to over 300 millimeters (11.8 inches), with Shindaebang-dong in Dongjak District recording 417 millimeters between midnight to 4 a.m. Tuesday, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration.

BY LIM JEONG-WON [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]