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Barely Surviving Buried in Mud... Helpless Against '450mm Water Bomb'
Published : Aug 17, 2026 10:09 PM
Video
Torrential downpours dumping more than 450mm of rain pounded Tongyeong, near Geoje, and Busan throughout today (August 17). A landslide on an island in Tongyeong also buried a resident in their 60s who was later rescued.
Reporter Kim Minjun reports on the situation across the southern coast, which suffered damage comparable to Geoje.
A person can be seen barely lying face down amidst a pile of mud, covered with a blanket and holding onto a bucket.
This is the scene of the Korea Coast Guard rescuing resident A, a woman in her 60s who was buried in a landslide on Gonrido Island in Tongyeong, Gyeongsangnam-do, at around 5:00 a.m. today.
The rescue operation lasted for nearly an hour and a half, and resident A was transported to a nearby hospital suffering from injuries including a fractured leg and hypothermia.
At the time, Tongyeong was being battered by torrential rain falling at a rate of 51.3mm per hour.
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Roads in various places were paralyzed by the heavy rain that poured overnight.
Citizens stepped out of their cars to clear trees that had blocked the road in the pouring rain, and
[Tongyeong Citizen: It was hard to make a U-turn there because the tree was too big. A landslide-like situation also occurred slightly behind it.]
A truck is stuck in a pothole after asphalt roads cracked and caved in various spots due to rainwater rushing fiercely like a river.
Traffic heading toward Daejeon on the Tongyeong Toll Gate of the Tongyeong-Daejeon Expressway was temporarily restricted in the afternoon to clear mud and debris that had collapsed onto the road.
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Heavy rain damage continued in Busan and Jeju as well. In the Deokcheon-dong area of Busan, commercial banners and signs fell, while in Gupyeong-dong, a rock weighing about 1 ton washed down by rainwater blocked the road, causing traffic inconveniences.
Drainage operations to pump out water from flooded homes continued throughout the night in areas of Seogwipo and Jeju City, Jeju.
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As of 6:00 p.m., the amount of rainfall recorded across the southern coast today reached 453.7mm in Tongyeong, 105mm in Busan, 103mm in Jinju, and 88mm in Changwon.
More than 140 roads and bridges were temporarily restricted in Sacheon, Goseong, and Tongyeong, and 40 residents from 22 households evacuated.
(Video Editing: Park Na-young, Footage Courtesy of: Tongyeong Coast Guard, Gyeongnam Fire Service, Busan Fire Service, Jeju Fire Service)
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