8 dead as heavy rain leaves parts of Seoul flooded

At least eight people died in and around Seoul overnight, the South Korean authorities said yesterday, after torrential rain knocked out power, caused landslides, and left roads and subways submerged.

The southern part of the city received more than 100mm of rain per hour late on Monday, with some parts of the city getting 141.5mm, the heaviest rainfall in decades, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA).

The accumulated rainfall in Seoul since midnight on Monday was 451mm as at 2pm yesterday, with more rain forecast.

The hourly rainfall figures were the highest since a storm in 1942, Yonhap News Agency reported.

 

Some areas of Seoul received more rain in one day than typically seen in an entire month in the summer, according to data from KMA.

President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday visited a semi-basement apartment where three family members died the night before, after swift-moving flood waters filled the space.

The dangers of such underground flats, called banjiha, were famously depicted in a flooding scene in the 2020 Oscar-winning film Parasite.