Flooding claims dozens of lives as rainfall lashes Korea

Rescue workers on Sunday search the site of a landslide in Yecheon-gun, North Gyeongsang Province, that buried five houses and left at least three dead and two missing. (Yonhap)

More deaths have been reported across the country as flooding from heavy rain claimed over 30 lives as of Sunday, including a 34-year-old man who tried to save his father from an open manhole on Saturday afternoon. Both father and son were found dead.

The father, chief of a Gwangdeok-ri village in North Chungcheong Province, was trying to remove objects obstructing the town's drainage facilities when he was swept into the manhole. His son jumped in in an attempt to save him.

Rescue personnel conducted an operation in the area, but the bodies of the two were found around 5:30 p.m., 15 meters from the manhole.

A landslide at Sejong city in the same province claimed the life of a 74-old-man, who was a former member of the civil firefighting squad. The flood has claimed at least five lives in the Chungcheong area alone as of Sunday.

Earlier that day in Wonju, Gangwon Province, a 65-year-old man fell into a stream while trying to rappel across it with a rope. He was trying to get to his cows to feed them.

The man, who was hanging on the rope in the stream when the rescuers found him, was taken to the hospital but died later.

Flooding has forced scores of households across the province to evacuate their homes. According to the provincial office, flooding has forced 63 households to evacuate from their home to nearby public facilities such as town centers and community centers.

North Gyeongsang Province was among the regions hardest hit by the downpour, as 18 deaths were reported there as of Sunday afternoon. A residential area for foreign workers was buried by a landslide Saturday at Dongno-myeon, killing a Thai woman in her 30s.

Another landslide at Jangsu-myeon left two households buried. A 67-year-old woman died in the incident, and her 25-year-old daughter was rescued but later died due to her injuries.

The authorities are currently conducting a rescue operation at a flooded underpass in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, which was submerged around 8:40 a.m. Saturday, leaving 19 dead or missing.

In Imsil-gun, North Jeolla Province, a man in his 50s went missing after he jumped into a lake around 7:42 p.m. on Saturday. According to his acquaintances who were with him at the time, he jumped in saying that he "wanted to swim," despite the heavy rain warning issued for the area.

The authorities are conducting a rescue operation for the man, but have yet to find him as of Sunday afternoon.

Rescue workers on Sunday search the site of a landslide in Yecheon-gun, North Gyeongsang Province, burying five houses and leaving three dead and two missing. (Yonhap)

By Yoon Min-sik(minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)