At least 37 people have died and nine are missing in flooding and landslides across storm-battered South Korea, with heavy rainfall forecast to continue, Yonhap News Agency reported, citing the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters.
Nine bodies were recovered 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 after a nearby river overflowed, according to Yonhap.
As of Sunday, 13 cities and provinces had evacuated 7,540 people from their homes, Yonhap said. Authorities said 300 millimeters (11.8 inches) of rain is expected in the central region of the country by 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, who attended a NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, last week, met with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy 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, the northeast Tohoku region has been hit by record heavy rain over the past few days. That has 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, according to local media.
Japan’s meteorological agency said rain will continue to fall in the region Sunday and warned of further damage.
(Updates with new casualty toll and president’s comment)
