Hourly Downpour of over 100mm Hits Geoje... Continued Damage in Jeonnam and Gwangju

[Anchor]

Overnight, an intense downpour of more than 100mm per hour pounded Geoje, South Gyeongsang Province, submerging villages and roads and prompting evacuation orders for residents. Heavy rain centered around the southern regions over the weekend has led to a series of flooding damages in the Jeonnam and Gwangju areas.

For our first news report today (August 17), here is Jeon Yeonnam.

[Reporter]

The Jangpyeong-dong area in Geoje, South Gyeongsang Province, is submerged in muddy water, resembling a river.

Torrential rains reaching up to 100mm per hour poured across the Geoje area early this morning.

At around 2:10 AM today, emergency text messages were sent out across all of Geoje, warning of the risk of landslides and overflowing streams.

In particular, as the Seojeongcheon and Suwolcheon streams in Geoje overflowed due to torrential downpours, roads were flooded, and emergency situations arose with evacuation and outdoor activity ban orders issued to residents.

Flooding damage occurred in various places, including villages in Ilun-myeon, and power outages also hit homes in some areas.

The Geoje city government urged caution, stating, "In some damaged areas, road flooding and obstacles make it difficult even for emergency vehicles such as fire engines to enter."

Firefighters are pumping water out of a flooded house in Yeongam-gun, Jeonnam and Gwangju.

In Jeonnam and Gwangju, where heavy downpours exceeding 200mm at most fell overnight two days ago, more than 140 reports of heavy rain damage, including 50 cases of home flooding, had poured in as of 4:00 PM yesterday.

On the coast of Jeonnam, intense downpours exceeding 60mm per hour prompted emergency disaster text messages to be sent to areas such as Mokpo, Haenam, and Yeongam.

Jeju also experienced heavy rain of around 40mm per hour, centering on mountainous areas, leading to partial closures of Hallasan hiking trails.

Rain is expected to continue across most parts of the country today, with showers falling in various places.

In particular, strong rain accompanied by gusts, thunder, and lightning is forecasted to fall at a rate of 50 to 100mm per hour this morning, centering on Busan and the southern coast of Gyeongsang.

[Video Editing: Choi Hye-ran]
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.