logo
Three dead as South Korean region hit by most rain in 120 years

Three dead as South Korean region hit by most rain in 120 years

France 2417-07-2025
South Korea typically experiences monsoon rains in July, but three areas in the country's South Chungcheong province this week saw some of the heaviest hourly downpours on record, official weather data showed.
Three people were killed Thursday, the Ministry of Interior and Safety said, all in South Chuncheong province.
"As of 4pm local time at least three people have died today due to torrential rains," a Ministry of Interior and Safety official told AFP, adding that more than 1,000 people had been evacuated.
Police told AFP that one person was found inside a submerged vehicle, an elderly man was swept away near a stream, and another elderly man had been found dead in a flooded basement apartment after his son reported him missing.
The western Seosan area was hit by rainfall peaking at 114.9 millimetres (4.5 inches) per hour, "a level typically seen only once in 100 years", a weather agency official told AFP, adding that this was the highest rate since full records began in 1904.
The heavy rains were due to "warm and moist air flowing in along the edge of the North Pacific High, triggering strong atmospheric instability", the official added.
South Korean broadcasters ran videos of severe flooding in Seosan, with water swamping markets and apartment complexes, as well as submerging parked cars.
AFP reporters saw residents in Seosan struggling to clean up the aftermath of the floods on Thursday, with parking lots and shops still seen flooded with muddy water.
Choi Hee-jin, a nightclub owner, told AFP it had been "heartbreaking" to return to her business after the floods had swept through.
"Water had completely filled the club, and everything -- sofas, fridges, furniture, even computers -- was just floating around," Choi said.
"How do you think it feels to see that? Honestly, it felt like the world was collapsing. There are no words to describe it."
The national weather agency said in a statement that nearly 440 mm (about 17.3 inches) of rain had fallen in Seosan by 10:30 am on Thursday -- equivalent to 35 percent of the region's average annual rainfall.
"The water is just too deep and so much mud has been pushed in that I've already been working for about five hours trying to drain it all out," said Kim Min-seo, a 50-year-old restaurant worker, as she scrubbed the muddy floor.
"I'm still not done," she added.
- Evacuation orders -
Residents in Hongseong county, in South Chungcheong province, were ordered to "evacuate immediately to a safe location" early Thursday morning due to flooding from a nearby stream.
Several schools and nurseries in the county were also closed.
South Korea is regularly hit by flooding during the summer monsoon period, but is typically well-prepared and the death toll is usually relatively low.
Scientists say climate change has made weather events around the world more extreme and frequent.
South Korea also endured record-breaking rains and flooding in 2022, which left at least 11 people dead.
They included three people who died trapped in a Seoul basement apartment of the kind that became internationally known because of the Oscar-winning Korean film "Parasite".
The government said at the time that the rainfall was the heaviest since records began, blaming climate change for the extreme weather.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Boats bring Philippine flood victims to safety as death toll rises
Boats bring Philippine flood victims to safety as death toll rises

France 24

timean hour ago

  • France 24

Boats bring Philippine flood victims to safety as death toll rises

Schools remained closed and electricity was down in swathes of the archipelago nation's largest island as the national disaster agency reported 25 dead and eight missing since last Friday. But those numbers did not account for three construction workers buried in a landslide as they rested Thursday in Cavite province, south of the capital Manila, according to rescuers. A wall above their construction site collapsed onto the men below after days of rain softened the soil under it, said rescue team member Rosario Jose. "All the bodies were found in the mud," she said. A lone survivor was pulled from the rubble. In the west coast province of La Union, where Typhoon Co-May arrived in the early hours, a family of four was rescued Friday morning after being trapped on the second floor of their wooden home. "They couldn't leave their house because the flood was waist-deep and they have children," said a rescue official who asked not to be named as they were not authorised to speak to media. "Many had been calling us since early morning, but we were having challenges in responding because the rain and winds were so strong," they said, adding that a break in the downpour meant rescue operations were now in full stride. In Bulacan province, just north of Manila, AFP journalists saw entire villages half submerged in floodwaters. Lauro Sabino, 54, said he and his wife had evacuated their home in the morning after a frightening night of hard winds. "It was as if my roof was being blown off. It was creaking. The rain poured the entire night," he said, adding they would sleep at a local market until flooding subsided. "The same thing happens every time. There's no solution," agreed Mary Rose Navia, 25, a housewife whose husband was unable to go to work on Friday. "The floodwaters are just getting deeper." President Ferdinand Marcos on Thursday explicitly tied the recent flooding to climate change, saying his country had to accept this was the "new normal". "This is the way it's going to be as far as we know for... many decades to come, so let's just prepare," he said in a televised cabinet briefing. The storm, which was weakening as it made its way north by northeast, was expected to be gone from the Philippines by Saturday morning. © 2025 AFP

Philippines shuts schools, scraps flights as Typhoon Co-May nears
Philippines shuts schools, scraps flights as Typhoon Co-May nears

France 24

timea day ago

  • France 24

Philippines shuts schools, scraps flights as Typhoon Co-May nears

Typhoon Co-May, upgraded from a tropical storm overnight, follows days of monsoon rains that have killed at least 12 people and left another eight missing across the archipelago since July 18, according to the national disaster agency. With maximum sustained winds of 120 kilometres (75 miles) per hour, the typhoon was expected to make landfall on the west coast in either La Union or Ilocos Sur province by Friday morning, the country's weather service said. Around 70 domestic and international flights have been cancelled due to the storms, the civil aviation authority said. The government has announced the suspension of classes across Luzon for Thursday. Tens of thousands were evacuated across Manila earlier this week by floodwaters that swamped some neighbourhoods in waist-deep water and left residents of nearby provinces stranded and in need of rescue by boat. As of Thursday, at least several thousand people in Manila remained unable to return to their homes. "We cannot send them home yet because it is still raining and some typhoons are still expected to affect the country," Ria Mei Pangilinan, a rescue coordinator in the capital, told AFP. "There might be more (evacuees) if the rain does not stop." Typhoon Co-May was about 210 kilometres off the country's west coast as of 11 am (0300 GMT). Tropical Storm Francisco, meanwhile, was situated about 735 kilometres from the country's east coast and on a trajectory towards northern Taiwan.

Vanuatu island chief 'very impressed' by global climate decision
Vanuatu island chief 'very impressed' by global climate decision

France 24

timea day ago

  • France 24

Vanuatu island chief 'very impressed' by global climate decision

Vanuatu spearheaded the legal case at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, which found countries have a duty to protect against the "urgent and existential" threat of a warming planet. "I'm very impressed," George Bumseng, the highest chief of the Pacific archipelago's cyclone-prone island of Ambrym, told AFP in the capital Port Vila. "We have been waiting for this decision for a long time because we have been victims of this climate change for the past two decades," he said. The chief recalled that his island was battered by three tropical cyclones in 2023, with twin cyclones Judy and Kevin striking in March of that year, followed by Lola in October. The storms damaged "a lot of our root crops and forests and our traditional medicines", said Bumseng, who is chairman of the Ambrym council of chiefs. Global warming "keeps on changing our environment", the chief said. "We no longer have fig trees. There's coastal erosion continuously. Our tide is also changing," he said. "Some of the traditional crops are no longer growing like before," he added. © 2025 AFP

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store