Heavy monsoon rains trigger 837 damage reports nationwide, prompt evacuations

Heavy monsoon rains lashed much of the country through Sunday morning, triggering flooding, rockfalls, power outages and isolated communities.

The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters under the Ministry of Interior and Safety released figures at 6 a.m. Sunday showing 837 damage reports filed since the rain began Saturday. Of those, 270 involved flooded homes and roads or drainage support requests, while 567 required safety measures in response to landslides and rockfalls. In Gimcheon, North Gyeongsang Province, 3 hectares of crops were damaged.

As of 4:30 a.m. Sunday, 441 people from 338 households across 21 cities and counties in six regions — Daegu, Sejong, Gyeonggi Province, North Chungcheong Province, South Chungcheong Province and North Gyeongsang Province — had been temporarily evacuated. In northern North Gyeongsang Province, where damage was most concentrated, 366 people from 292 households in and around Andong, Uiseong, Yeongju and Yecheon took shelter in community centers and senior welfare facilities.

The headquarters' official tally listed no casualties from the heavy rain. However, a search is underway for a missing angler in Gangwon Province, and a separate investigation is ongoing into a death at a stream in Suwon.

According to the Korea Meteorological Administration, cumulative rainfall from midnight Friday through 6 a.m. Sunday at major monitoring points nationwide included 201.4 millimeters in Yeongju, North Gyeongsang Province; 197.5 mm in Paju, Gyeonggi Province; 171.1 mm in Cheorwon, Gangwon Province; 126 mm in Boryeong, South Chungcheong Province; 122.5 mm at Deogyu Mountain in Muju, North Jeolla Province; and 104.5 mm in Damyang, South Jeolla Province.

All heavy rain advisories across the country were lifted at 6 a.m. as the rain system moved out over the sea to the east. The Korea Meteorological Administration then issued heat wave warnings for parts of Jeju and heat wave advisories for Gwangju, Daegu, Busan, Ulsan and Sejong, as well as parts of the Chungcheong, Honam, Yeongnam and Jeju regions, effective from 11 a.m. Tropical night advisories were also issued for parts of South Jeolla Province, South Gyeongsang Province and Jeju, as well as for Busan and Ulsan.

Rain clouds are forecast to redevelop from Sunday afternoon, however, with some areas in North Gyeongsang Province expected to receive 30 to 50 millimeters per hour. Forecast totals are 30 to 80 mm for Daegu, North Gyeongsang Province, Ulleungdo and Dokdo, and 20 to 60 mm for central and southern inland areas and mountain zones of Gangwon Province, the Chungcheong region, Gwangju, South Jeolla Province, eastern North Jeolla Province and inland South Gyeongsang Province.

Rain is expected to return nationwide Thursday through Friday under the influence of a stationary front, with the Greater Seoul area and the Yeongseo region of Gangwon Province seeing rain continuing through Saturday. The Korea Meteorological Administration urged the public to prepare for landslides, rockfalls and river flooding, as the ground has already been weakened by heavy rainfall, and to guard against heat-related illness in areas under heat wave advisories.