Three Dead, Over 1,000 Evacuated as South Korea Sees Heaviest Rainfall in 120 Years

At least three people were killed and over 1,000 residents were forced to evacuate their homes as a result of record torrential rains in South Korea, authorities reported on Thursday. The South Chungcheong province experienced some of the heaviest hourly rainfall in history since 1904, and that shows the trend towards increasingly extreme weather in the country.

The ministry confirmed the three fatalities as those in South Chungcheong province. One was discovered inside an underwater vehicle, one was swept away along a stream, and a third, an old man, was discovered in a basement flat which had been inundated with floodwaters after he was reported missing by his son.

Western city Seosan experienced its all-time record hourly rainfall at 114.9 millimetres per hour—a volume that the nation's weather agency describes as a century event. It is the all-time record of hourly rainfall in South Korea. Seosan had accumulated almost 440 millimetres of rain up to Thursday morning, and that is approximately 35% of the region's average yearly rainfall.

The deluging rain was a result of warm and wet air flowing along the boundary of the North Pacific High and leading to enormous atmospheric instability, officials explained. The meteorological condition brought giant flooding all over South Chungcheong province, particularly in low-lying regions like Seosan and Hongseong county.

Seosan townspeople and businessmen were having a hard time dealing with devastation. Roads were inundated, automobiles were submerged up to their middles, and water entered residences. Nightclubs, parking lots, markets, and apartment buildings were destroyed, with images showing filth-filled interiors and pieces of trash floating here and there.

Hongseong officials issued an evacuation notice on an early Thursday morning when things got worse. Schools and nursery schools were closed down as a preventive measure.

While the country overall is well-equipped for monsoon season, this week's occurrence demonstrated weakness in infrastructure resilience under conditions outside of the norm. While under usual circumstances monsoon deaths are few in South Korea, in recent years rain has been illustrated to become increasingly less reliable and more extreme. Experts have warned that climate change taps into the heightened frequency and pace of such incidents.

The most recent tragedy comes after prior tragedies in 2022 as South Korea endured the worst-recorded rainfall since the beginning of modern record-keeping. A minimum of 11 individuals were slain in the tragedy, including three individuals who drowned inside basement flats in the country's capital city, Seoul—a type of accommodation made popular around the world through the Oscar-winning Parasite film.

Even as cleanup operations are in progress at the inundated regions, such as Seosan, authorities are sounding an alert against complacency and are making arrangements to handle more rain. The weather is likely to remain unsettled, with continued danger of flash flooding in regions.

This week's show is part of a growing sequence of 2025 Asian climate disasters and is part of a call for more funding to finance adaptation of climate hubs and disaster readiness. Experts illustrate how climate risk management is essential over the long term for managing risks, particularly for densely populated regions prone to heavy rains and flood.

Source: AFP © 2025