The death toll from flooding caused by the heaviest rains to hit northern South Korea in 80 years has risen to 14 and six people are still missing, local officials said on Monday.
Rescue services found on Thursday the bodies of two residents of the capital, Seoul, inside a sewerSouth Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported.
The floods have so far left eight dead in Seoul, three in the rest of western Gyeonggi province and another three in eastern Gangwon province, with six people still missing in the capital.
More than six thousand people and almost three thousand families had to be evacuated from their homes in 46 cities., cities and towns, including the capital. Many of these people live in basements flooded by rain.
Half of the people who lost their lives in recent days lived in this type of housing. There are about 200,000 basement dwellings in Seoul, housing 5% of all families in the capital, Yonhap said.
According to the agency, the capital’s authorities have announced that they will ask the government to revise the urban construction law to prohibit the use of basements for residential purposes.
Seoul will also give building owners a 20-year period to convert these basements to non-residential uses, such as warehouses or parking lots, as well as support tenants moving into public housing.
Parts of Seoul, as well as the port city of Incheon and Gyeonggi province, saw heavy rain of more than 100 millimeters (mm) for several consecutive hours on Tuesday.
Rainfall exceeded 140 millimeters (mm) in one hour in Seoul’s Dongjak district, the most rainfall recorded in 60 minutes since 1942.
The heavy rains caused flooding of houses, vehicles, buildings and subway stations, according to Yonhap.
The rains also affected North Korea, where authorities have issued warnings for the south and west of the country, state television KCTV reported on Tuesday.
The official Rodong Sinmun newspaper described the heavy rains as potentially “disastrous” and called for measures to protect farmland and prevent flooding caused by the Taedong River, which runs through the capital Pyongyang.
Source: Observadora
