On Monday night and Tuesday morning, Seoul and the neighboring areas experienced record-breaking severe rain, which caused devastation throughout the area. Numerous people were killed and hundreds of people were forced to flee because to the downpour, which was the heaviest to fall in Seoul in 115 years. Many areas of the capital experienced severe floods, which seriously damaged both the infrastructure and the property.
According to the Korea Meteorological Administration, Seoul and the whole capital region should anticipate heavy rain through Friday.
Ever since meteorological records in Seoul began in 1907, the amount of rain that fell on Monday was the most in 115 years. Both the hourly and daily precipitation exceeded historical highs. The greatest hourly rainfall in Dongjak-gu, south of Seoul, reached 141.5 millimeters on Monday night, much above the district’s previous record of 118.6 millimeters set in 1942. The daily rainfall total of 381.5 millimeters broke the previous record for Dongjak-gu set in 1998 of 332.8 millimeters.
Lightning that pounded the metro region more than 2,000 times the night before was present with this intense downpour. Retaining walls fell in three locations in Seoul, Incheon, Gangwon Province, and Gyeonggi Province, flooding a total of 741 homes and retail complexes.
According to statistics from the insurance sector, as of Tuesday morning, more than 1,000 incidents of car flooding had been documented. As precipitation swamped subway stations and lines, trains were stopped around the city.