At least seven dead, three missing and thousands evacuated due to heavy rains in South Korea

The country is at the highest level of natural disaster due to rainfall

July 15 (EUROPA PRESS) –

At least seven people have lost their lives, another three are missing and thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes in different parts of South Korea as a result of the heavy rains that hit the country.

At 6:00 a.m. (local time) this Saturday, the balance of people affected by the torrential rains also included six injured, according to sources from the Central Headquarters for Security and Disaster Countermeasures collected by the South Korean news agency Yonhap.

In all, some 1,567 people from approximately 1,002 households in 13 different cities and counties have been forced to leave their homes to seek shelter overnight. Of these, it is estimated that around 1,114 people would not have been able to return for security reasons.

Between the central county of Goesan and the central city of Chungju, about 8,000 people have been evacuated shortly before the Goesan dam burst its banks.

According to the same agency, local authorities have reported 31 cases of public damage and 71 cases of damage to private property. In addition, power outages have occurred in 13 cities and counties across the country.

The South Korean Meteorological Agency has issued heavy rain warnings for the provinces of Gyeonggi, Chungcheong, Gangwon (in the south), North Jeolla and the western part of South Jeolla, among others.

For its part, the Korea Railway Corporation (KORAIL) has suspended all regular trains and some KTX bullet trains that run through the central interior region of the country and has warned that other services will be slowed down, such as the routes that connect Seoul with the south of the country.

On Thursday, the Ministry of Public Administration and Security raised to the highest –in a three-level system– the level of natural disaster due to the rains. On Saturday, South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo ordered officials to quickly evacuate people in landslide-prone regions to minimize damage and casualties, and called on them to do everything possible to rescue people in affected areas.