Record rains drench South Korean city as landslide kills one
It comes as large swathes of East and South East Asia have been pummelled by dats of heavy rain.
Torrential rains have drenched South Korea's Gyeongsang province, causing a deadly landslide that left one person dead and two others injured. The landslide buried the lower level of an apartment building in the southeastern city of Geoje on Monday morning. Rescue teams recovered three survivors, but one was pronounced dead later.
This extreme weather event follows a series of record-breaking rains across East and Southeast Asia, triggered by a series of back-to-back storms. Geoje city witnessed an astonishing 124.5mm of rain within an hour, the highest one-hour rainfall since record-keeping began in 1972. Over the weekend and early Monday, the city received more than 400mm of rain, forcing the closure of several tourist attractions and halting bus services and waste collection due to flooded or damaged roads.
Authorities had previously advised residents to avoid driving and evacuate to safer areas. This series of storms has caused significant flooding and infrastructure damage across the region. Experts warn that this year's typhoon season is expected to be more intense than usual, due to a powerful El Niño phenomenon that began in June.
El Niño increases global temperatures and the strength of typhoons. Recently, Japan's Chiba prefecture experienced unprecedented rainfall, resulting in 10 deaths and thousands stranded at Narita Airport, with power cut to over 20,000 households.
Written by urgent.news from BBC World's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
