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SEOUL — No less than seven folks have been killed as among the heaviest rainfall in many years struck the Seoul space in a single day, flooding properties, streets and subway stations, South Korean officers mentioned on Tuesday.
Three of the lifeless, two sisters of their 40s and a 13-year-old lady, have been discovered early Tuesday as emergency employees pumped out the water that had flooded their semi-basement house in southern Seoul. One other was a municipal worker, apparently electrocuted whereas eradicating a tree that had fallen onto a sidewalk, the police mentioned.
Along with the seven confirmed deaths, officers mentioned six folks have been lacking after floodwaters pulled them into manholes, underground passages or streams.
Almost 17 inches of rain poured down in southern Seoul between early Monday and early Tuesday, roughly the identical quantity that falls in a typical summer time month, climate officers mentioned. In a single district, 5.4 inches fell in a single hour, breaking an 80-year-old Seoul report.
Extra heavy rain was anticipated Tuesday within the capital space and in provinces east and south of it, the Korea Meteorological Administration mentioned.
The flooding turned Seoul’s Monday night rush hour into chaos. Some subway stations have been closed, and drivers deserted vehicles within the upscale Gangnam district as roads grew to become impassable. Properties and different buildings skilled energy outages.
Pictures on social media confirmed commuters wading via waist-deep water, drivers stranded on automotive roofs and rainwater cascading down the steps of subway stations. Among the pictures from Tuesday morning, after the floods receded, resembled a catastrophe film, with vehicles strewn throughout metropolis streets.
Climbing paths on the mountains round Seoul have been closed on Tuesday, and the federal government issued alerts warning that landslides have been doable. Companies have been urged to regulate their working hours so staff might keep away from visitors jams and potential hazards.
President Yoon Suk-yeol, whose approval scores have plummeted since he took workplace in Could, mentioned on Fb that he had “ordered the associated authorities businesses to evacuate folks from harmful areas to keep away from human casualties.”
North Korea has additionally been hit by heavy rainfall in current weeks. A number of our bodies present in South Korea close to the nations’ border final month have been believed to be these of flood victims, swept downstream from the North, the South Korean police mentioned.
Previously, flooding has additionally introduced land mines from the North into the South. Officers warned South Koreans residing close to the border to train warning, saying that the North had launched floodwaters from close by dams.
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