Search continues for Koreans missing after torrential rains in Seoul
The search for people missing after Monday’s record-breaking downpour in Seoul and its surrounding areas continues, with seven people still unaccounted for as of 6am on Wednesday. Nine have been confirmed dead, and hundreds remain displaced.
A brother and sister are reported to have been swept into a manhole, when the lid suddenly opened due to a countercurrent.
One missing person disappeared after being swept away by rapid currents while checking on his vehicle in an underground parking lot. A witness reported the incident immediately, and the fire department began searching at 11pm on Monday, but he is yet to be found. Another man went missing in a similar way near another underground parking lot.
Three people are reported missing from Gyeonggi province.
In Gwangju, two people were swept away by a flooded river, and in Namyangju, a teenager disappeared on her way home, swept away by a rapid stream.
Nine people in Seoul and surrounding areas died from house flooding, electrocutions, landslides, and a bus station collapse.
Four victims drowned in two semi-basement homes in Seoul, including a family of three in one and a middle-aged woman in another.
The authorities said that fatalities from the downpour could rise as the clean-up of affected areas continue.
In addition, 570 people from 398 households were forced to leave their homes due to flooding, while 1,253 people from 724 households were temporarily evacuated.
Heavy rain warnings in Seoul and the metropolitan area were lifted Wednesday morning, with rain clouds moving southward toward North and South Chungcheong provinces, southern Gangwon province and North Gyeongsang province.
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