Heavy rain The Olympic Expressway along the Han River is empty on the morning of Aug. 9, 2022, as the river slowly encroaches on the road due to torrential rains of over 100 millimeters per hour that battered Seoul and surrounding areas the previous night, the heaviest downpours in 80 years. (Yonhap)
Here is video of what the record rainfall in South Korea looked like this week:
Record rainfall pounded most of the Seoul metropolitan region on Monday and Tuesday leaving nine people dead and seven others missing. The downpour flooded and destroyed roads and subway stations, triggered landslides, clogged underground water drainage systems, and forced the evacuations of people living in low-lying areas.
It was the highest amount of rainfall per hour witnessed in the capital region in 80 years, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration, the country’s central weather monitoring organization. Seoul’s Dongjak District was bombarded with the heaviest downpour in the city with 422 millimeters falling on Monday alone.
Reports that Yoon had to be briefed about the floods in his home last night because he was trapped there and could not travel to the control center or visit the affected areas.
So many online comments are now asking: Why did you move out of the Blue House?
At this point anyone living along the Imjim River should avoid it during heavy rain periods because the North Koreans are likely going to flood the river with no notification:
This file photo taken June 28, 2022, shows water gushing out of the floodgates of the Gunnam Dam on the Imjin River, which runs across the inter-Korean border in the South Korean border town of Yeoncheon, north of Seoul. The dam, built in 2010, was designed to deal with flash floods from North Korea. (Yonhap)
North Korea appears to be releasing water from a dam near the inter-Korean border without giving prior notice to the South, a South Korean government official said Monday, as the North is drenched by heavy downpours.
“As rain has fallen heavily in North Korea, the North is repeatedly opening and closing the floodgates of Hwanggang Dam,” the unification ministry official said. “It seems (the North) is adjusting the Hwanggang Dam’s water level based on the rainfall situation.”
The official said there was no prior notification from the North on the move.
Under an inter-Korean agreement signed in October 2009, the North is supposed to notify the South in advance of its plans to release dam water.
This is horrible that this family drowned in their own apartment:
President Yoon Suk-yeol visits a semi-basement apartment in southern Seoul on Aug. 9, 2022, where a flash flood the previous night killed a family of three. (Yonhap)
President Yoon Suk-yeol visited a semi-basement apartment in Seoul on Tuesday where a flash flood the previous night killed a family of three.
Yoon visited the apartment in southern Seoul after presiding over an emergency government meeting on the response to the heavy rains that have pounded the capital and central areas this week.
Eight people were reported killed and six missing in the country’s heaviest rainfall in 80 years.
According to the police, the family consisted of a woman in her 40s, her younger sister, and the sister’s teenage daughter.
An Inter-Korean agreement from 2009 stated that the North Koreans are supposed to notify the South when they release flood waters from their dam so they can warn residents along the Imjim River. Here is yet another agreement the Kim regime has decided to not abide by:
Water pours out of floodgates at Gunnam Dam in Yeoncheon, 62 kilometers north of Seoul, on June 29, 2022. (Yonhap)
North Korea appears to have released water from a dam near the inter-Korean border, while remaining unresponsive to Seoul’s request for prior notice, a South Korean government official Thursday.
“It is presumed that North Korea has recently opened the floodgates of Hwanggang Dam,” the unification ministry official told reporters amid reports that the impoverished North is suffering torrential rains in many parts of the country.
It is regrettable that the North did not give any prior notice before releasing dam water near the inter-Korean border despite Seoul’s request for such notice, the official added.
Earlier in the day, an informed military source said the reclusive neighbor appears to have discharged dam water, while authorities here have been on high alert. The North has discharged dam water without notifying the South in advance in the past, endangering the safety of local residents.
The source, however, added the water levels of the Imjin River are currently stable, staying below 3 meters.
It usually takes four to five hours for water released from the dam located at the upper part of the Imjin River to reach the Gunnam Dam in the South’s border town of Yeoncheon, 62 kilometers north of Seoul. The distance between the two dams is around 56 kilometers.
Everyone be safe out there as Typhoon Prapiroon moves towards Korea:
Cars are submerged in a street at Boseong in South Jeolla Province, Sunday / Yonhap
A nationwide downpour hit Korea on Sunday and Monday as Typhoon Prapiroon approached.
One person was killed and two were injured after up to 300 millimeters of rain fell across the country. A woman, 53, originally from Thailand, died in hospital after being struck by lightning at Yeonggwang, South Jeolla Province.
Two others ― a woman, 73, at Boseong and a man, 73, at Gwangju ― were injured.
The downpour swamped more 3,700 hectares of farmland and caused some railroads to suspend operations. Many cars have been submerged, slowing traffic. Houses and rice paddies were flooded, railway services temporarily stopped and flights were delayed. [Korea Times]
I guess this makes sense considering how many soldiers are reportedly missing and the damage done to border checkpoints:
North Korea has hastily dispatched agents from its State Security Ministry to flood-damaged areas bordering China to block mass defections of residents there, a U.S. broadcaster, monitored in Seoul, reported Monday.
This summer, the North’s northeastern provinces adjacent to China were devastated by heavy rains accompanied by Typhoon Lionrock. The United Nations estimates that 138 North Koreans were killed and 400 others are missing in the country’s worst flooding in its history, with about 20,000 houses destroyed.
The North Korean authorities employed the step as defections have become easier as the heavy rains wrecked lots of border facilities, such as guard posts, and barbed-wire fences, the Radio Free Asia (RFA) said, citing a source in the North. [Korea Times]
