Korea to experience more rain this week, but not as extreme

Korea's weather authority on Sunday predicted that rain clouds will form above Gangwon and eastern Gyeonggi early Monday morning and quickly move southward throughout Thursday morning.

Cars damaged by last week’s heavy rains are parked outside Seoul Grand Park in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi, on Sunday afternoon to receive insurance benefits. The General Insurance Association of Korea announced that at least 9,189 cars have been reported to 12 property insurance companies for damages expected to be worth about 127.37 billion won ($97.8 million). [NEWS1]

Heavy rain will once again sweep across the nation early this week, though likely not as severely as last week.

Korea’s weather authority on Sunday predicted that rain clouds will form above Gangwon and eastern Gyeonggi early Monday morning and quickly move southward throughout Wednesday morning.

Seoul is expected to see rains of at least 50 millimeters (2 inches) per hour from late Monday afternoon to early Tuesday, markedly less than last week’s hourly precipitation of over 140 millimeters, said the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA).

The southern part of mainland Korea will be affected Tuesday morning, while Jeju Island is expected to see heavy rain the following day.

The key difference between this week’s downpour and last week’s, the KMA said, is that the upcoming rain front won’t hover above a particular area for an extended period of time like last week, which caused casualties and significant property damage in the greater Seoul region.

Rather, this week’s rain front is predicted to swiftly move along its route.

Even so, weather officials urged the public not to let their guard down, saying that additional property damage and landslides may be caused by already weakened soil from last week’s flooding.

Gangnam District in southern Seoul and Yangpyeong in Gyeonggi were the most severely hit regions last week, with accumulated precipitations reaching over 500 and 600 millimeters, respectively.

The estimated accumulated precipitation for this week is between 50 and 100 millimeters for Seoul; above 150 millimeters for eastern Gyeonggi, North Chungcheong, South Chungcheong, North Jeolla and western North Gyeongsang; and 10 to 60 millimeters for eastern Gangwon and the East Sea coast of North and South Gyeongsang.

As of Sunday morning, the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters said that 14 people died and six remain missing from last week’s record rainstorm.

Among the deaths, eight were tallied in Seoul, four in the surrounding province of Gyeonggi and two in the northeastern province of Gangwon.

Of the six missing, two were counted each in Gyeonggi, Gangwon, and South Chungcheong.

The latest casualties were reported from Buyeo County, South Chungcheong, at around 1:44 a.m. on Sunday when a freight truck was washed away in a flood, leaving the 55-year-old driver and another person missing.

Only the truck has been found so far.

Some 2,000 others from 1,100 homes, mostly in Seoul and Gyeonggi, are currently living in makeshift shelters organized by local governments after their homes were submerged.

About 5,600 others from 2,600 households were temporarily evacuated after they lost electricity or parts of their walls collapsed.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced plans to establish more makeshift shelters for Covid-19 patients after eight evacuees recently came down with the coronavirus.

Approximately 6,200 residential and commercial buildings across the nation have reported damages, about 5,700 of which are in Seoul alone.

Nearly 1,085 hectares of farmlands were flooded, mostly in South Chungcheong and Gangwon. About 87,000 livestock animals died.

BY LEE SUNG-EUN,CHON KWON-PIL [lee.sungeun@joongang.co.kr]