One death in South Korea during monsoon season

South Korea’s monsoon season started this week and has already seen its first weather-related fatalities as forecasters warn this year’s rains could be among the heaviest in decades and government officials vow to be prepared.

On Tuesday in Hampyeong, a southwest province where it rained nearly two inches an hour, the victim, a woman in her late sixties, was reported missing by a neighbor. Her body was found Thursday morning; the local fire department said she was most likely swept away by a flooded stream.

The monsoon season, during which much of Korea’s annual rainfall falls within a few intense weeks, typically runs from mid or late June to early August, resulting in flooding, building damage and casualties. According to the National Weather Bureau, some regions receive more than a foot of rain during the summer months.

The national weather forecast predicts at least some rain in each week of July, with precipitation levels expected to match or exceed last year’s, when the country saw its heaviest rainfall in eight decades, killing at least nine people. came to life.

Last summer, hundreds of civilians were evacuated from their homes. A family has drowned in their semi-basement home in Seoul.

President Yoon Suk Yeol visited the scene of that disaster the next day and pledged to take steps to prevent such deaths in the future. The Seoul city government announced it would stop issuing permits for basement or semi-basement housing in new housing developments.

“We can no longer call such abnormal weather abnormal,” Mr Yoon said at an emergency meeting the day after last year’s storm, calling for systems to be upgraded to monitor water levels.

To brace for this year’s weather, the government has placed flood barriers, sandbags and drainage pumps in low-lying areas and warned citizens not to take underground roads.

The Ministry of the Interior and Security has also vowed to inspect basement apartments and parking lots where people could become trapped.

By Thursday, Seoul, the capital, had seen at least two inches of rain, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration. More precipitation was predicted.