Heavy rainfall in South Korea claims 14 lives, 12 still missing

Seoul [South Korea], July 20 (ANI): South Korea is bracing for more potential casualties from heavy rainfall, with the death toll rising to 14 and 12 people still missing. The severe weather has affected several regions, with the southern county of Sancheong being the most severely affected, Al Jazeera reported.
Sancheong has received nearly 800mm of rain since Wednesday, resulting in eight deaths and six missing persons in the rural county of 33,000 residents.
According to Al Jazeera, neighbouring counties, Hapcheon and Hadong, have also experienced significant rainfall, with 699 mm (27.5 inches) and 621.5 mm (24.5 inches), respectively.
Two of the 12 people reported missing were from the southwestern city of Gwangju, Yonhap said.
Further, the South Korean news agency confirmed that the authorities have registered 1,920 cases of flooded roads, soil loss and destroyed public facilities, and 2,234 other cases of damage to private property, such as buildings and farmland.
A total of 12,921 people have taken shelter across 14 major cities and provinces, the agency added.
Meanwhile, the science ministry reported that service outages occurred over the weekend due to heavy rains, which prompted blackouts at cell stations across the country.
The disruptions were most severe in the southern county of Sancheong and Gapyeong, northeast of Seoul, where intense rainfall caused widespread power outages. However, by Sunday evening, most services had been restored, with around 90 per cent of wireless services and 98 per cent of landline services back online, the Yonhap news agency reported.
South Korea typically experiences monsoon rains in July and is usually well-prepared. However, this week, the country's southern regions were hit by especially intense downpours, with some of the heaviest hourly rainfall on record, according to official weather data.
Scientists say climate change has made extreme weather events more frequent and intense around the world. In 2022, South Korea endured record-breaking rains and flooding, which killed at least 11 people. (ANI)