SEOUL: At least one person was killed and four others missing during heavy downpours on Sunday (Jul 20) in South Korea, officials said, bringing the death toll to 11 from torrential rains that have lashed the country this week.
Close to 170mm of rain hit Gapyeong county in Gyeonggi province – located 70km east of Seoul – early on Sunday.
“We expect at least four missing now on top of one dead in Gapyeong,” an interior ministry official told AFP.
The total number of deaths from the five-day deluge is now at least 11, according to official data.
A woman in her 70s was killed when her house collapsed in a landslide around 4.40am on Sunday in Gapyeong, Yonhap news agency reported.
Most of the deaths have occurred in the southern county of Sancheong, which has seen nearly 800mm of rain since Wednesday.
South Korea typically experiences monsoon rains in July and is usually well-prepared. But this week, the country’s southern regions were hit by especially intense downpours, with some of the heaviest hourly rainfall on record, official weather data showed.
Scientists say climate change has made extreme weather events more frequent and intense around the world.
In 2022, South Korea endured record-breaking rains and flooding, which killed at least 11 people.
