Heavy rains trigger advisories in central regions

Heavy rain advisories were issued for the country’s central regions on Thursday as the national weather agency urged caution against potential property damage and floods.

Passersby at Gwanghwamun Square in downtown Seoul walk in the rain on Thursday as heavy showers batter the nation. [YONHAP]

Heavy rain advisories were issued for the country’s central regions on Thursday as the national weather agency urged caution against potential property damage and floods.

No property damage or casualties were reported in the Seoul metropolitan area made up of Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi as of 12 p.m. Thursday.

Officials, however, warned there could be such events in the evening or at night as people get off work and commute home.

A 67-year-old woman who went missing on Tuesday night in Hampyeong County, South Jeolla, amid a downpour was found dead Thursday morning.

The woman, identified by local firefighters as a water facility maintenance worker, had gone missing at around 10:30 p.m. on Tuesday after leaving her home that night to open the floodgates at a small farming village.

South Jeolla fire authorities announced Thursday that the woman was discovered at 10:37 a.m. at a pump station support beam in the same village, about 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) away from where she went missing.

More than 400 firefighters and police officers had been searching for her.

Her husband, who accompanied her to the floodgates on Tuesday night, reportedly went back home to get a flashlight for better visibility. When he returned, she was not there.

No other casualties caused by the monsoon have been reported in the country this week.

A tourist wrestles with carrying her luggage amid the rain at Gwanghwamun Square. [YONHAP]

According to the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA), the rains will likely continue in most parts of the country until Friday, although the southern regions won’t clear up until Saturday or Sunday.

The Seoul metropolitan area will likely see a lot less rain on Friday than on Thursday, with the weather being mostly cloudy.

As for next week’s weather, KMA officials said the monsoon front could once again return to Korea and bring showers. Seoul, Incheon and southern Gyeonggi are expected to receive some 50 to 120 millimeters (2 to 4.7 inches) of rain until Friday, or possibly more than 150 millimeters in some areas.

Friday’s maximum temperature could reach up to 32 degrees Celsius (89.6 degrees Fahrenheit) in the Seoul metropolitan area and Saturday’s 36 degrees, much higher than Thursday’s mid-20s.

Northern Gyeonggi, South Jeolla, North Jeolla and Jeju Island are forecast to receive 100 to 200 millimeters of rain until Friday, or possibly more than 250 millimeters in some areas.

Seoul experienced its first “tropical night” of the summer on Wednesday night, or when temperatures stay above 25 degrees Celsius from 6 p.m. to 9 a.m. Tropical nights were seen in Gangneung and Sokcho in Gangwon and Cheongju, North Chungcheong, on the same day as well.

The first time any area had a tropical night this summer was on the night of June 16 in Yangyang County, Gangwon.

BY LEE SUNG-EUN,JEONG EUN-HYE [lee.sungeun@joongang.co.kr]