Seoul floods: Roads turn to rivers in South Korea, leaving at least eight dead
At least eight people have been killed and seven others were missing after floods caused by torrential rain swamped South Korea’s capital Seoul.
Streets were turned into car-clogged rivers and water cascaded into subway stations, with more rain still forecast.
In one area, Korea’s meteorological agency said it had recorded the heaviest downpour for 80 years.
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Landslide warnings were issued in nearly 50 cities and towns, while 160 hiking paths in Seoul and the mountainous Gangwon province were closed.
“The heavy rainfall is expected to continue for days … we need to maintain our sense of alert and respond with all-out effort,” President Yoon Suk Yeol said at the government’s emergency headquarters.
He directed officials’ attention to areas vulnerable to landslides or flooding and to reducing the dangers of roads and facilities already damaged to prevent more deaths.
The rain began on Monday morning and intensified through the evening.
By nightfall, people were wading through thigh-high waters in streets in Gangnam, one of Seoul’s most bustling business and leisure districts, where cars and buses were stuck in mud-brown waters.
Commuters evacuated as water cascaded down the stairs of the Isu subway station like a waterfall.
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