Torrential rain in Korea’s southern regions prompted mass evacuations amid fears of flash floods and landslides.
Bae Eun-ji has details.
More than two thousand residents in the Chungcheong-do and Jeolla-do provinces have been forced to evacuate, as heavy rain poured down overnight.
In Gunsan city in Jeollabuk-do Province, heavy rain poured down at a rate of more than 130 millimeters per hour.
This is the highest amount of rainfall recorded in the Gunsan area since weather observations began.
Over in Seocheon-gun County, located in Chungcheongnam-do Province, over 110 millimeters per hour were recorded in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
Houses and cars were flooded, and the Chungcheongnam-do Fire Service Headquarters said it received more than 800 reports of damage related to flooding in a period of just five hours.
In response, President Yoon Suk Yeol called for measures to prevent further damage.
President Yoon, who’s currently on a trip to Hawaii issued an emergency order after being briefed on what was happening at home.
He also ordered officials to evacuate residents in areas that are at risk of landslides, and restrict access to areas prone to flooding.
As of 2:30 AM on Wednesday, the South Korean government announced that the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters’ alert level has been raised from Level 1 to Level 2, and the heavy rain crisis alert level has been raised from “caution” to “warning.”
The highest is Level 3, and the heavy rain crisis alert levels are divided into four stages: attention, caution, warning, and severe.
This comes as South Korea braces for another round of monsoon rain, set to hit most regions of the country until late Wednesday.
Bae Eun-ji, Arirang News.
Source : Arirang TV, https://www.arirang.com/news/view?id=273092
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