(Photo : South Korea National Fire Agency via Getty Images)
At least 39 people died and thousands have been evacuated as a result of over a week of torrential rainfall in the central regions of South Korea.
On Monday, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol attributed the failure to follow disaster response protocols to the 39 deaths caused by days of torrential rain.
The central and southern regions of the country have been pummeled by rain since Thursday, as the monsoon season that began in late June reaches its apex. In addition, the interior ministry has reported nine missing persons and 34 injured people nationwide.
South Korea Death Toll Rises
Twelve fatalities, including three corpses, recovered overnight, occurred in a tunnel in the central city of Cheongju, where 16 vehicles, including a bus, were swept away by a flash flood on Saturday following the failure of a river levee. Nine more were injured.
Per Irish Times, the incident raised concerns about South Korea's efforts to prevent and mitigate flood damage. Some vehicles that frequently use the road blamed the government for failing to restrict access to the underpass despite the widespread flooding forecast.
As weather patterns have become more extreme, dozens of lives have been lost to flooding in recent wet seasons. After the heaviest downpours in 115 years pounded Seoul, including the affluent district of Gangnam, leaving at least 14 dead and flooding subways, roadways, and homes, the government pledged to better deal with climate change-induced disasters last year.
Yoon, who had just returned from a vacation abroad, convened an intra-agency meeting on disaster response on Monday and stated that inadequate management of vulnerable areas had exacerbated the situation.
He demanded that authorities exert every possible effort to extricate victims and pledged support for recovery efforts and affected families, including the designation of flood-affected areas as special disaster zones.
On Sunday, rescuers in South Korea extracted nine bodies from a flooded culvert in which 15 vehicles were submerged in murky water, as days of heavy rain caused flash floods and mudslides and destroyed residences across the country, according to officials.
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South Korea Experiences Heavy Rains,
Since July 9, when heavy rainfall began lashing the central regions of South Korea, 37 people have perished, and thousands have been evacuated. Nearly 900 rescuers, including divers, were scouring the tunnel in the central city of Cheongju, where vehicles, including a bus, were swept away by a sudden flood Saturday evening, according to Seo Jeong-il, the city's fire chief.
Officials from the fire department estimated that the tunnel filled with water within two or three minutes. Photos and videos from the site depicted rescue workers setting up a perimeter and draining brown water out of the tunnel while divers navigated the area in rubber boats.
North Chungcheong provincial fire department official Yang Chan-mo estimated that it would take several hours to siphon out all the water from the tunnel, which was still filled with 4 to 5 meters (13 to 16.4 feet) of water dense with mud and other detritus.
According to ABC News, Yang stated that workers were moving carefully to prevent any victims or survivors from being carried away. Through Tuesday, the Korea Meteorological Administration predicted that the country's central and southern regions could receive up to 30 centimeters (12 inches) of additional rainfall.
In the past few days, more than 8,850 individuals have been evacuated and 27,260 households have been without power. According to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, the rain damaged or obliterated nearly 50 roads and more than 100 residences. At least 35 individuals required medical attention.
According to his office, President Yoon Suk Yeol, who is on a journey to Europe, discussed the rain-related casualties and damages during an emergency meeting while traveling by train to Poland from Ukraine on Saturday. Yoon demanded that all available resources be mobilized in response to the disaster.
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