The balance sheet is still provisional. During floods that affected Seoul on Monday and Tuesday, August 9, seven people died and seven others are missing, authorities said. In particular, the water invaded metro stations and several roads in the capital.
“At least seven people have died in the Seoul metropolitan area, (…) seven others are missing, due to heavy rain at 7:30 a.m. this morning”an official from South Korea’s interior ministry told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Authorities warned of more rain as rescue workers tried to clear the carcasses of flooded cars from the streets of Seoul, AFP journalists said. Up to 300 millimeters of additional rain was forecast for the central region, including Seoul.
The heaviest rains recorded for eighty years
The torrential rains that began on Monday are the heaviest in South Korea for 80 years, according to the Yonhap news agency.
Dramatic footage shared Monday night on social media showed people wading through waist-deep water, overflowing subway stations and half-submerged cars in Seoul’s upscale Gangnam district.
The Korea Meteorological Administration has urged South Koreans to “watch out for heavy rain, gusts, and thunder and lightning in the central region” in the next few days.
According to local media, three people living in a “flood” – cramped basement apartments like the one where the family in the film resides « Parasite », of Bong Joon-ho – including a teenager, drowned in their apartment.
President Yoon Seok-youl ordered government officials to evacuate residents from at-risk areas and encouraged companies to allow their employees to work flexible hours on Tuesday morning.
“Nothing is more precious than life and safety. The government will carefully manage the heavy rain situation”he wrote on his Facebook account.
Daily life in South Korea was still heavily disrupted on Tuesday, with many roads and tunnels closed for safety reasons, it was reported. Yonhap.
