The state weather agency on Tuesday issued a heavy rain warning for the Seoul metropolitan area and the southern port city of Busan, and a heavy rain advisory for most other parts of South Korea, with precipitation exceeding 60 millimeters per hour in some capital regions.
The Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) had issued the warning as of 3:20 p.m., forecasting the Seoul metropolitan area will get up to 180 mm of rain until Wednesday and hourly precipitation may be in excess of 70 mm Tuesday night.
The KMA issued a heavy rain advisory for almost all other parts of the nation, excluding the southern resort island of Jeju and Gangwon Province’s east coast, saying torrential downpours of 30 to 60 mm per hour, accompanied by gusty winds, thunder and lightning, will drench many central and southern regions until Wednesday morning.
A heavy rain warning is issued when precipitation is expected to reach more than 90 mm for three hours or 180 mm for 12 hours.
In Icheon, some 60 kilometers southeast of Seoul, 64.5 mm of heavy rain fell per hour, and a man in his 70s died after being swept away by floodwaters while walking along a stream in adjacent Yeoju, where hourly precipitation reached 59.5 mm.
The per-hour precipitation also reached 53.5 mm in the Bupyeong district of Incheon, just west of Seoul.
Elsewhere in the country, rescue authorities were inundated with reports of fallen street trees, house, road and river flooding, and other damage related to heavy monsoon rains.
The KMA advised residents affected by the heavy rain warning and advisory to be careful of flooding and other accidents, and brace for a spate of torrential downpours that make it difficult to see ahead.
Source: Yonhap News Agency