Nine people died and seven are disappeared in Seoul, where streets have been transformed into a river. The rains must continue until Friday.
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The Korean peninsula undergoes torrential rains which could last another several days. In North Korea, the Taedong river, which crosses Pyongyang, overwhelmed, causing floods qualified as “disastrous” by the daily Rodong Sinmun, and the authorities are struggling to avoid damage to agricultural land. 200 kilometers to the south, on the other side of the demilitarized zone (the DMZ, which separates the two Koreas), Seoul experienced 525 millimeters of precipitation between Monday 8 and Wednesday August 10, unheard of in a hundred and fifteen years. They caused damage such as the president, Yoon Seok-Youl, apologized “for lived dramas”. And caution prevails, new showers being feared until Friday.
The balance sheet in the South Korean capital and its surroundings is at least nine dead and seven missing. The city presents a desolation show, with the large arteries cluttered with abandoned vehicles and many flooded districts.
The night of August 8 to 9, these streets were transformed into a real rivers, especially in the south of the city, around the trendy district of Gangnam. Several metro stations were flooded and traffic has been suspended on several lines of the train and metro. Eighty roads have been closed, as are underground tracks. Access to 156 of the very popular hiking trails of the five national parks, including that of Mont Bukhan, north of Seoul, remains prohibited. Eight lines of ferry interrupted their services.
on the eight people Died, two women and a little girl died drowned in a half -buried apartment in the west of the capital. The accommodation would have been overwhelmed in a few seconds. In addition, 570 people had to take refuge in schools and other public establishments.
During an emergency meeting, President Yoon asked that everything be done to minimize the damage caused by the rains. “They have lasted for several days, we must remain mobilized and vigilant,” said the manager, who canceled a trip to the center of the country and went to the site where the two women and the little girl were killed.
The Ministry of the Interior noted the flood alert at its highest level. The Korean Forest Service issued alerts to the landslide in 47 cities and counties, in Seoul but also in the center and the east of the country.
Dongjak weather station, located in the south of the capital, recorded 381.5 mm of rain on August 8, breaking the daily record of 354.7 mm set in August 1920 and the highest level since the Implementation, in Korea, in 1907, of the first modern system for recording meteorological data.
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