A vehicle that was caught in flash floods that ravaged Seoul earlier this week can be seen on the side of the road near where a crew works to drain water from a building near Gangnam Station on Aug. 10. (Yonhap News)
The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters (CDSCH) announced that 10 people have died and six are missing as of 6 pm Wednesday due to the torrential downpour that battered the Seoul metropolitan area this week.
A man in his 40s who, along with his sister, was swept away by a torrent and fell into a manhole in Seoul's Seocho District Monday night, was found dead inside a manhole near a bus station 1.5 kilometers away from where he went missing.
In Namyangju, a city bordering Seoul on the northeast, a middle schooler went missing after she was swallowed by the rapids of a stream near her house. Reportedly, the student was on her way home with her friend when she slipped and fell into Maseoku Stream in the town of Hwado while crossing a stone bridge across the stream around 11:12 pm on Tuesday. The police and fire department have mobilized 19 vehicles and 79 officers to search for the girl, with search efforts being centered around the location she went missing.
Additionally, 7,230 evacuees from 570 households are reportedly still at shelters, unable to return home. The CDSCH has been providing food and roughly 24,000 units of relief supplies such as emergency relief packages, cooking supplies, blankets, and tents via organizations such as Hope Bridge and the Red Cross.
A total of 3,716 residential and commercial buildings have been identified to have been affected by flooding. Seoul suffered the lion's share of the damage, with 3,453 buildings affected, while 126 were affected in Gyeonggi Province, 133 in Incheon, and four in Gangwon Province.
A total of 27 landslides have been identified to have occurred, among which eight took place in Seoul, while Gyeonggi Province and Gangwon Province saw 14 and five landslides, respectively.
The downpour caused power outages for 14,876 households, among which 13,537 have had their power restored while 1,339 -- 289 in Yangpyeong, Gyeonggi Province; 407 in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province; 179 in Yeoju; and 464 in Hongcheon, Gangwon Province -- are still reportedly waiting for repairs.
Access to 157 hiking trails on Mount Bukhan, Mount Seorak, Mount Odae, Mount Chiak, Gyeryong Mountain, Mount Worak, Mount Sobaek, Mount Sokri, and Mount Taebaek is being restricted. Passenger ships to and from Ulleung Island and Dokdo have halted operations. Access to the Yongin-Seoul Expressway in the direction of Yongin has been blocked off since midnight on Monday.