Record-breaking rains triggered significant flooding in Seoul, the capital of South Korea, with key roads and subway stations submerged, according to officials on Tuesday. This has left no fewer than seven people dead and seven more still missing.
Eye-catching pictures posted on social media late Monday showed people wading through waist-deep water, crowded metro stations, and submerged automobiles in Seoul’s upscale Gangnam neighbourhood, which was particularly hard-hit by the city’s deluge.
Yonhap News Agency in Seoul reports that the rainstorm that started on Monday is the biggest to fall in South Korea in 80 years.
‘At least seven people died in the Seoul metropolitan area, while seven others are missing, due to heavy rain,’ an official at Seoul’s interior ministry told reporters.
Local reports revealed that three people living in a banjiha — cramped basement flats of the kind made famous in Bong Joon-ho’s Oscar-winning “Parasite” — including a teenager, died as their apartment was inundated by floodwaters.
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‘The government must review the current disaster management system from square one, given that abnormal weather caused by climate change is becoming a part of everyday life,’ he said.
‘We should respond all out until the situation is over in order to protect the precious people’s lives and property and take steps until the end, until the people feel that they are enough.’
However, Yoon, who has seen his approval rating plummet to just 24 percent since taking office in May, according to the latest Gallup Korea poll, was facing online criticism for failing to go to the government’s emergency control center late Monday.
Local media reported his absence was due to flooding in his area, but Yoon’s office denied that was a factor, saying he had decided to stay home as his team, including the prime minister, already had the response in hand.
Africa Today News, New York reports that the Korea Meteorological Administration warned South Koreans to ‘be careful of the heavy rain, gusts, as well as thunder and lightning in the central region’ for the next few days.