Seoul floods: Eight die amid biggest rain in decades

• In Seoul, the capital of South Korea, flooding brought on by torrential rain has resulted in at least eight fatalities and 14 injuries.
• Monday night’s torrential rains flooded metro stations, flooded roadways, and caused blackouts throughout the city and adjacent provinces.
• The heaviest rainfall in some locations in 80 years, according to Korea’s meteorological agency.

In Seoul, the capital of South Korea, flooding brought on by torrential rain has resulted in at least eight fatalities and 14 injuries.

Monday night’s torrential rains flooded metro stations, flooded roadways, and caused blackouts throughout the city and adjacent provinces.

The heaviest rainfall in some locations in 80 years, according to Korea’s meteorological agency.

The rain was expected to last for several days, according to weather officials.

Images showed people crossing streets in knee-high water, parked cars submerged up to their windows, and floodwater flowing down metro stairwells.

According to local sources, the three victims were residing in a banjiha, or semi-basement apartment.

Rescue workers claimed they were unable to enter the apartment because floodwaters on the street had reached waist-high levels.

Seoul correspondent Jean Mackenzie’s analysis box

This morning, Seoul is covered in destruction. The actual tragedy, however, is taking place in a pink house with tiny broken windows that are visible just above the ground.

The windows are part of a basement apartment where three people drowned last night after becoming trapped by water, including one of their 13-year-old kids and two sisters in their 40s. It is still encircled by floodwater and debris this morning.

The house is virtually identical to the flat in the Academy Award-winning movie Parasite. The opening scene, in which the main family urgently tries to divert the water out of their home amid a torrential downpour, is reminiscent of the real-life events in this case, but the conclusion is much worse.

Yoon, the president of South Korea, had paid the flat a visit, demonstrating the importance of these deaths.

They serve as a reminder that hundreds of Koreans reside in these unfit-for-purpose underground flats away from the opulent Gangnam buildings where most of the damage was done.

When their semi-basement unit was inundated by floodwater, three individuals died.

According to the Yonhap news agency, rain fell in parts of Seoul, the western port city of Incheon, and the neighbouring Gyeonggi province on Monday night at a rate of nearly 10 cm per hour.

According to Korea’s Meteorological Administration, Seoul’s Dongjak district reported more than 141.5 mm of rain per hour, which is the greatest rate since 1942. (KMA).

A person who was electrocuted, another who was discovered underneath a bus stop, and a third who perished in a landslide were among the other victims. At least 14 people were hurt, and six more were said to be missing.