ktlight
28th July 2011, 07:19
FYI:
South Korea is trying to cope with 24 hours of unprecedented torrential rain that has killed at least 19 and caused widespread floods, blocked roads and swept away buildings in and around its capital Seoul.
One devastating landslide caused by the water has obliterated a mountain resort this morning killing 13.
The wave of earth swept through Chuncheon, 100km from Seoul, destroying several buildings, including two small hotels, officials said.
Ten of the 13 killed there were students who had been doing voluntary work and were staying in a resort cabin when the mud and debris engulfed them.
Trapped: A solitary car is stuck in the water as miles of queues stretch back on this busy flooded motorway
A married couple and a convenience store owner were also killed.
About 500 officials and residents worked to rescue people trapped in the mud and wreckage, and twenty-four people were badly injured injured.
In southern Seoul, six people were killed when a wave of mud crashed through residential areas at the foot of a mountain, said city official Lee Sun-myeong.
One person was reported to be missing, reportedly a child.
Wild weather has battered the Korean peninsula causing widespread flooding and transport delays, while the share price of insurers fell on fears that damage costs would run into millions of dollars.
At Chuncheon rescue workers were still sifting through the muddy rubble of the wrecked hotels, restaurant and coffee shop searching for missing people.
'We were asleep and suddenly I heard a big sound, and then the ceiling fell down,' Lee Beon-seok, a student, told local television.
A local resident reported that as the landslide approached it sounded like a fast train.
'And then I heard someone shouting "help me". So I went out to see, and I saw a landslide had swept all over the area,' she said.
Officials said about 20 people were injured when the wall of mud crashed into the buildings near the Soyang River Dam just after midnight.
source
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2019236/South-Korea-landslides-kill-19-Woman-clings-life-floods.html
South Korea is trying to cope with 24 hours of unprecedented torrential rain that has killed at least 19 and caused widespread floods, blocked roads and swept away buildings in and around its capital Seoul.
One devastating landslide caused by the water has obliterated a mountain resort this morning killing 13.
The wave of earth swept through Chuncheon, 100km from Seoul, destroying several buildings, including two small hotels, officials said.
Ten of the 13 killed there were students who had been doing voluntary work and were staying in a resort cabin when the mud and debris engulfed them.
Trapped: A solitary car is stuck in the water as miles of queues stretch back on this busy flooded motorway
A married couple and a convenience store owner were also killed.
About 500 officials and residents worked to rescue people trapped in the mud and wreckage, and twenty-four people were badly injured injured.
In southern Seoul, six people were killed when a wave of mud crashed through residential areas at the foot of a mountain, said city official Lee Sun-myeong.
One person was reported to be missing, reportedly a child.
Wild weather has battered the Korean peninsula causing widespread flooding and transport delays, while the share price of insurers fell on fears that damage costs would run into millions of dollars.
At Chuncheon rescue workers were still sifting through the muddy rubble of the wrecked hotels, restaurant and coffee shop searching for missing people.
'We were asleep and suddenly I heard a big sound, and then the ceiling fell down,' Lee Beon-seok, a student, told local television.
A local resident reported that as the landslide approached it sounded like a fast train.
'And then I heard someone shouting "help me". So I went out to see, and I saw a landslide had swept all over the area,' she said.
Officials said about 20 people were injured when the wall of mud crashed into the buildings near the Soyang River Dam just after midnight.
source
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2019236/South-Korea-landslides-kill-19-Woman-clings-life-floods.html