Heavy rain to soak Korea again from Tuesday

People under an umbrella cross a road in Jongno District, central Seoul as rain falls on June 29. [NEWS1]

Heavy rain is expected to hit the country again for two days starting Tuesday.

The rain front is expected to soak Jeju and South Jeolla from early Tuesday morning, the national weather agency said Monday. It is expected to move north and expand to the capital area Tuesday afternoon and the entire peninsula during the day.

The greater Seoul area is expected to see rain from Tuesday afternoon with heavy rain advisories forecasted to be issued on the night of the same day.

Heavy rain of 50 to 100 millimeters (2 to 4 inches) is forecast to batter the greater Seoul area and parts of the country’s central and southern regions. The coastal areas of Gangwon and South Gyeongsang are expected to be hit with around 20 to 60 millimeters of rain.

The central regions, including the capital area and North Gyeongsang, may experience heavy downpours of over 30 millimeters to 60 millimeters of rain per hour from Tuesday night through Wednesday morning. Rain will be heavy on Jeju Island on Wednesday morning, according to the weather agency.

“There is a high possibility of further damage as a significant amount of rain had already weakened the ground,” an official from the Korea Meteorological Agency (KMA) said.

The KMA expects the rain to stop in the metropolitan area and the northwestern regions from Wednesday morning, and most areas by the end of the day.

A heatwave is likely to grip the country as soon as the rain stops.

The minimum temperature across the country will be around 21 to 24 degrees Celsius (70 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit) on Wednesday and the maximum temperature around 27 to 33 degrees Celsius, similar to those on Sunday when heatwave advisories were issued in many parts of the country.

The weather agency on Monday also stressed safety checks on facilities should be conducted in case of potential accidents as the rain has already caused multiple deaths in the country.

A landslide caused by heavy rain in Yeongju, North Gyeongsang killed a 14-month-old baby last Friday. The 10-ton landslide led to the evacuation of dozens of residents as rain battered the area overnight.

A 67-year-old woman who went missing last Tuesday in Hampyeong County, South Jeolla, amid a downpour was found dead two days later. The woman, identified as a water facility maintenance worker, went missing after leaving her home to open the floodgates at a small farming village.

BY CHO JUNG-WOO, JEONG EUN-HYE [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]