At least seven people have been killed, three others are missing, and thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes in various parts of South Korea as a result of the heavy rains that hit the country.
At 6:00 am (local time) this Saturday, the balance of those affected by heavy rain is also included Six woundedAccording to sources from the Central Headquarters for Security and Disaster Response Measures compiled by South Korean news agency Yonhap.
In all, some 1,567 people from around 1,002 households in 13 different cities and counties were forced to leave their homes in search of shelter. Overnight. Of these, it is estimated that about 1,114 people were unable to return due to security reasons.
Between the central county of Goesan and the central city of Cheongju, about 8,000 people were evacuated shortly before the Goesan Dam burst its banks.
According to the same agency, local authorities reported 31 cases of public damage and 71 cases of damage to private property. In addition, power outages occurred in 13 cities and counties across the country.
South Korea’s Meteorological Agency issued warnings of heavy rain for Gyeonggi, Chungcheong and Gangwon provinces (in the south), North Jeolla and the western part of South Jeolla, among other regions.
For its part, the Korea Railways Corporation (Korail) has suspended all regular trains and some KTX express trains that pass through the inland-central region of the country and warned that its other services will slow down, such as the routes connecting Seoul with the south of the country.
On Thursday, the Ministry of Public Administration and Security raised to the highest level – in a three-tier system – the level of natural disaster due to rain. On Saturday, South Korean Prime Minister Han Duk-soo ordered officials to quickly evacuate people in landslide-prone areas to minimize damage and losses, and called on them to do everything they can to save people in affected areas.
