This photo shows landslides triggered by the heavy rain near a high school in Dongjak District, Seoul, Wednesday. Yonhap

Yoon orders new measures to cope with extreme weather

By Lee Hyo-jin

After Seoul and its surrounding areas were battered by record-breaking downpours over the last two days, experts are calling for preemptive mitigation and prevention efforts, warning that the country may witness more extreme weather events caused by climate change.

Nine people were killed in the torrential rainfall as of Wednesday ― five in Seoul, three in surrounding Gyeonggi Province and one in Gangwon Province, while seven people went missing, according to the Central Disaster Safety and Countermeasures Headquarters. The authorities said 2,600 homes and residential buildings were destroyed, leaving at least 600 people displaced.

The accumulated rainfall across Seoul stood at 525 millimeters as of 11 a.m., while some parts of Gyeonggi Province were drenched with 532.5 millimeters of rain.

Presiding over a flood response meeting, President Yoon Suk-yeol offered an apology to the public for the inconveniences caused by the heavy rainfall, while ordering relevant ministries to take immediate measures for a swift recovery.

"We can no longer call such extreme weather abnormal. We may see record-breaking levels again at any time," he said, stressing that the country must map out new measures to cope with worse-than-expected scenarios.

Unusual rainfall

Pedestrians walk on a battered sidewalk in Dongjak District, Seoul, on Tuesday following Monday's heavy rain. Yonhap

"Dongjak District saw the highest amount of rainfall since the country began tracking precipitation levels in 1907," an official at the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) told The Korea Times. "But we have not included the figure in the official record since the data came from Dongjak District and not from the official weather observation center in Jongno District."