Seoul (EFE)
According to the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA), the rain persists today in most of the South Korean geography, with areas that have already been particularly affected in recent days, such as the province of South Jeolla (southwest), receiving in recent hours between 30 and 60 millimeters of rainfall.
Some residents in this province and the neighboring city of Gwangju had to be evacuated today due to the risk of landslides, and in total around 5,000 people have not yet been able to return to their homes in different parts of the country, according to the latest data from the Command of Disasters and Emergency Countermeasures.
The province of North Gyeongsang (southeast) continues to be the one with the most fatalities, 21, the majority due to landslides, and there are also six missing, all residents of the town of Yecheon (270 kilometers southeast from Seoul).
Open an investigation for the collapse in a tunnel
On the other hand, the rescue teams have already finished draining the tunnel in the city of Cheongju (about 100 kilometers south of the South Korean capital) in which 17 vehicles were trapped on Saturday due to a flood when the nearby river overflowed. Miho.
In total, 14 people died in this underground, while it is investigated why the passageway remained open to traffic despite the fact that alerts had been issued about the possibility of the Miho overflowing and that the emergency services received two calls advising that the tunnel was filling with water in the two hours prior to the tragedy.
Thousands of animals and crop fields affected
Due to the floods, more than 30,000 hectares of agricultural land has been damaged and nearly 700,000 farm animals have died, mostly poultry, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.
In turn, more than 180 highways remain closed and only two of the 11 long-distance train lines remain open, although five of the seven national high-speed rail lines have already resumed operations.
The KMA forecasts that the rains will continue in much of the country until early Wednesday, but warns that in the northern regions, the storms may intensify again on the night of Wednesday to Thursday.