Flash Flood Sweeps Away Two Children

On July 12, heavy rains hit hard the central part of Korea, including Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Gangwon Province, bringing massive damage. Children on their way home after school went missing, subways and trains were paralyzed and houses and farmland were submerged.

As of 3:00 p.m. July 12, Goyang, Gyeonggi Province had 375 millimeters of rain, the heaviest since 1993. At 3:10, a brother and sister, Park Jae-bum (13) and Park So-yoen(14) were swept away by floods when they were crossing a bridge in front of a supermarket, a kilometer away from their middle school and are still missing.

The Korea Meteorological Administration forecasted that Seoul and Gyeonggi Province are expected to have 80 to 120 millimeters of more rains (up to 200 millimeters) and Chungcheong and Gangwon Provinces are expected to have approximately 30 to 80 millimeters more rain (up to 100 millimeters), bringing a total rainfall to more than 500 millimeters in some places.

Dong-Young Lee argus@donga.com