Seoul 10 August : Nine deaths have been reported, and seven others are still missing in this week’s record rain that ravaged Seoul and the eastern and central regions, officials announced on Wednesday.They added that over 2,500 homes and structures were submerged.A total of 525 millimetres of rain fell on Seoul from Monday until Wednesday morning, and Yangpyeong located 45 km to the east of Seoul, recorded an average of 526.2 millimeters of rain in the span of according to Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA).
Nine were killed five in Seoul three in Gyeonggi and one in Gangwon as well as seven others were missing Four of the missing were from Seoul and three from Gyeonggi 17 others were hurt, as per government statistics.
The total of 2,676 buildings and homes were flooded, with the majority of these in Seoul According to Yonhap News Agency.
About 570 people in 398 households mostly from the larger Seoul region, have been forced to relocate, with people in local gyms and schools.
Another 1,253 people of 724 households across the nation have been temporarily evacuated, officials announced.
The three-day downpours also put several public buildings shut out of services, with six cases of flooding railroads being that were reported in the greater Seoul region, and causing temporarily the discontinuance of services in sections of certain subway and railway lines.
A lot of the affected public services were back in operation as of Wednesday which included the running of the Seoul Subway Line.
Authorities have however closed portions of certain roads in Seoul in the early hours of Wednesday morning which includes the Olympic and Gangbyeon Northern highways, which directly traverse the city.
The KMA stated that it has removed the downpour warning in the greater Seoul area as well as Incheon west of Seoul as of early Wednesday morning.
The agency, however, issued the issue of a severe rain warning for Chungcheong province in the central region where the rainfall could be between 50 and 80 millimetres per hour.
In the meantime President Yoon Suk-yeol has apologized for the nation’s plight on Wednesday, following widespread criticisms that the capital isn’t equipped with adequate flood-control measures.
He declared that the government must be able to come up with fundamental strategies to deal with similar incidents in the future while conducting urgent restoration work and helping victims.
