Heavy rainfall leaves 9 dead, 7 missing in S. Korea

SEOUL, Aug 10 (Bernama) -- Nine people have been confirmed dead and seven others went missing as South Korea's capital Seoul and its surrounding areas were battered by heavy rainfall that started on Monday, Xinhua quoted a Yonhap news agency report Wednesday citing the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters.

Over 500 millimetres of rain fell in Seoul until Wednesday morning, while the western port city of Incheon, Gyeonggi province, which surrounds Seoul, and Gangwon province next to Gyeonggi were also pounded by torrential rain.

The downpour left nine people dead, including five from Seoul, three from Gyeonggi and one from Gangwon, while seven others were unaccounted for, four of them from Seoul and three from Gyeonggi, and 17 people sustained injuries in Gyeonggi.

One of the victims was a Chinese citizen who was killed in a landslide in the city of Hwaseong in Gyeonggi province at around 4.23 am local time Tuesday, according to the Chinese Embassy in South Korea.

Around 570 people from 398 households, mostly in Seoul and Gyeonggi, were displaced and took shelter in public facilities, while 1,253 people from 724 households across the country were temporarily evacuated.

More than 2,600 homes and buildings, mostly in low-lying areas of Seoul, were inundated, and thousands of vehicles were flooded on roads.

The Korea Meteorological Administration lifted the downpour warning in the Seoul metropolitan area earlier in the day, but it kept in place its heavy rain warning for Chungcheong province in the central region.

-- BERNAMA