Record heavy rains pour across the country, killing four people and leaving one missing

Overnight rain caused the Geumho River in Daegu to flood, leaving many citizens stranded. A resident walks on a flooded road with her luggage to evacuate in Geumdeum-dong, Dong-gu, Daegu, which was flooded on July 10. Yonhap News Agency

Record heavy rains poured across the country during the night from July 9 to 10, killing four people and leaving one missing. Gunsan, North Jeolla Province, recorded the highest precipitation in weather observation history on an hour basis, and more than 20 millimeters of heavy rain fell in five hours in Iksan, North Jeolla Province and Buyeo, South Chungcheong Province.

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety raised the heavy rain crisis warning level from "caution" to "alert" on the morning of the 10th, but lowered it to "attention" at 8 p.m., when most of the heavy rain warnings were lifted.

As of 4 p.m. that day, there were 560 cases of damage to public facilities, including road slopes (12 cases), river banks (100 cases), and roads (205 cases). Some 969.2 hectares of crops were flooded, and 44.9 hectares of agricultural land was washed away or buried. About 3,258 households and 4,526 people were temporarily evacuated and 877 households and 1,283 people are staying in temporary housing facilities.

In South Chungcheong Province, three people were killed by the heavy rains. At around 3 a.m., a man's body was found in the elevator of an officetel building in Nonsan, which was submerged to the first basement floor. At around 3:57 a.m., a house collapsed due to a landslide in Biin-myeon, Seocheon-gun, and a man in his 70s was found in cardiac arrest inside the house. He was rushed to a hospital but died. At around 10:48 a.m., a report was received that a person was buried in a house in Jinsan-myeon, Geumsan-gun. Fire authorities started rescue operations, but a woman in her 60s was found dead. In Daegu, a man in his 60s who was out in the field was sucked into a farm road by rising water and lost his life. In Yeongdong, North Chungcheong Province, a resident in his 70s who lived in a farmhouse went missing and police are searching for him.

The damage, which was concentrated in North Gyeongsang Province until the previous day, has been increasing in North and South Chungcheong Provinces and North Jeolla Province. Of the heavy rain damage, landslides and mudslides (40 cases) and tree falls (108 cases) were concentrated in North Chungcheong Province.

The maximum hourly precipitation was 146.0 millimeters in Gunsan, North Jeolla Province, 125.5 millimeters in Iksan, 111.5 mm in Seocheon, South Chungcheong Province, and 106.0 millimeters in Buyeo. 146.0 millimeters is the highest one-hour precipitation ever recorded by 97 climate observation stations nationwide.

※This article has undergone review by a professional translator after being translated by an AI translation tool.