Record-setting rainfall floods Seoul, killing 9

SEOUL, South Korea — Some of the heaviest rainfall in decades struck the Seoul area overnight, flooding homes, streets and subway stations, and killing at least nine people, South Korean officials said Tuesday.

Three of the dead, two sisters in their 40s and a 13-year-old girl, were found early Tuesday as emergency workers pumped out the water that had flooded their semi-basement home in southern Seoul. Another was a municipal employee, apparently electrocuted while removing a tree that had fallen onto a sidewalk, police said.

In addition to the nine confirmed deaths, officials said six people were missing after floodwaters pulled them into manholes, underground passages or streams.

Nearly 17 inches of rain poured down in southern Seoul between early Monday and early Tuesday, roughly the same amount that falls in a typical summer month, weather officials said. In one district, 5.4 inches fell in a single hour, breaking an 80-year-old Seoul record.

The deluges continued Tuesday afternoon, and more heavy rain was expected Wednesday in the capital area and in provinces east and south of it, the Korea Meteorological Administration said.

The flooding turned Seoul’s Monday evening rush hour into chaos. Some subway stations were closed, and drivers abandoned cars in the upscale Gangnam district as roads became impassable. Homes and other buildings experienced power outages.

Photos on social media showed commuters wading through waist-deep water, drivers stranded on car roofs and rainwater cascading down the steps of subway stations. Some of the images from Tuesday morning, after the floods receded, resembled a disaster movie, with cars strewn across city streets.

Hiking paths on the mountains around Seoul were closed Tuesday, and the government issued alerts warning that landslides were possible. Businesses were urged to adjust their working hours so employees could avoid traffic jams and potential hazards.

South Korea annually reports floods during its monsoon season, which starts in June and ends in early August.

The low-lying southern districts of Seoul are heavily developed with tall buildings, which deflect rainwater into streams that cannot release it into the Han River, the area’s main waterway, fast enough.