Torrential rains continued to lash South Korea for a third consecutive day on Friday, forcing over 5,000 people into emergency shelters and leaving at least four dead and one missing, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety said.
The country’s western and southern regions remain under heavy rain warnings, with authorities urging extreme caution against landslides and flash flooding through Saturday, News.Az reports, citing Reuters.
Some southern areas, including Gwangju, recorded over 400 millimeters (16 inches) of rainfall within 24 hours as of early Friday, marking one of the heaviest downpours in recent years.
Among the fatalities, two victims were trapped in submerged cars, while another died after floodwaters swept into a basement in South Chungcheong Province. In a separate incident, a 10-meter-high roadside wall collapsed on a moving vehicle in Osan, about 44 kilometers (27 miles) south of Seoul, killing the driver.
President Lee Jae Myung convened an emergency weather meeting, stressing the need for stronger disaster prevention and quicker response measures.
“Natural disasters are hard to prevent, but more can be done to anticipate damage and warn the public,” Lee said, adding that some casualties occurred due to “a poor response when the situation was reasonably predictable.”
Authorities have deployed all available resources for evacuation and rescue efforts as rains are expected to persist into the weekend.