South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol ordered on Monday (July 17) an all-out effort to handle the devastation caused by days of torrential rain, as the death toll grew to 39, including a dozen people found dead in a submerged underpass.
The rains have pummelled the country’s central and southern regions since Thursday (July 13) as the rainy season that started in late June reaches its peak. The interior ministry has also reported nine people missing and 34 injured across the nation.
Yoon convened an intra-agency meeting on disaster response on Monday and called for authorities to make the utmost effort to rescue victims and vowed support for recovery work, including designating affected areas as special disaster zones.
Twelve deaths, including three bodies retrieved overnight, occurred in a tunnel in the central city of Cheongju, where 16 vehicles, including a bus, were swamped by a flash flood on Saturday (July 15) after a river levee collapsed. Nine others were hurt.
