South Korea storms leave at least 49 dead

Seoul, The Gulf Observer: At least 49 people have died or remain missing in flooding and landslides across storm-battered South Korea as of Monday morning, with heavy rainfall forecast to continue, the Yonhap news agency reported, citing the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters.
Four more bodies were recovered overnight from a tunnel in the central city of Osong, North Chungcheong province, where about 15 vehicles including a bus were trapped, the news agency said. The underground road was flooded Saturday after a nearby river overflowed.
As of Monday, 10,570 people evacuated their homes nationwide due to rain damage, according to the headquarters. Authorities said up to 200 millimeters of rain has been forecast for Chungcheong and southern regions, and between 10 mm to 100 mm for the rest of the country through Tuesday.
Prime Minister Han Duk-soo on Sunday convened a meeting to organize swift rescue activities and coordinate cooperation between the military and police, after calls from President Yoon Suk-yeol for an urgent response.
Yoon was set to preside over a disaster response meeting Monday upon his return. The South Korean leader, who attended a NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, last week, met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Ukraine on Saturday.
“I would like to express my condolences to the bereaved families of those who lost their lives due to this heavy rain,” Yoon said in an inspection meeting with officials via a video call on Sunday. “Support for disaster victims must be provided quickly.”
South Korea suffers from storms and heavy rainfall every summer, with natural disasters claiming dozens of lives and damaging property annually. In 2022, at least 570 people lost their homes and thousands of buildings were flooded, especially in the Seoul metropolitan area.
In Japan’s Tohoku region, record heavy rain over the past few days caused floods, damaged property and led to power blackouts that affected hundreds of households and delays in public transportation systems. At least one person died because of the bad weather.