Seoul and vicinity grind to a halt due to torrential rain

Seoul and its vicinity were hit Wednesday by torrential rain of up to 110.5 millimeters per hour from Tuesday night to Wednesday afternoon. Many roads in downtown Seoul were blocked by floods and landslides struck several residential areas.

With heavy rain concentrated in the districts south of the Han River, the Seocho, Gangnam and Gwanak districts suffered the worst damage.

Roads surrounding the No. 2 subway line stations of Gangnam, Bangbae, Sadang and Samseong were deluged by heavy rain from Wednesday morning. Bus stops and subway entrances in those areas were also flooded, causing massive inconvenience for commuters.

Vehicles parked near the subway stations were left abandoned after being submerged, and traffic congestion continued even after the water receded.

In Seoul’s Seocho district, Yangjae Elementary School and roads near the Daechi subway station were inundated by flooding from Yangjae Stream.

Torrential rain also wreaked havoc on broadcasting. Mud generated from a landslide at Mount Umyeon in Seoul’s Seocho district flowed into the EBS Broadcasting Center. This cut off the emergency power supply, suspending TV broadcasting for 13 minutes.

EBS aired music after regular programming was interrupted. Broadcasting resumed at 2:05 p.m. after the network set up an emergency broadcasting center at its headquarters in Seoul’s Gangnam district.

Communications were also cut off. With power going out throughout Seoul’s Gangnam and Seocho districts at 8 a.m., the batteries of SK Telecom’s base station at Gangnam subway station ran out.

Because of this, subscribers to SK Telecom living and working near the station could not use their cellphones for more than four hours until noon. SK supplied power using emergency batteries but the base station`s operations remained suspended all morning.

bsism@donga.com