Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Weather update

Since I was away for the weekend, on the West coast of Korea I really had no idea how bad the weather had been until this morning.

This weekend tropical storm Bilis hit Asia and has dumped over 514 millimeters of rain in Gangwon Province (north east of Seoul) and more then 250 millimeters in Seoul which caused officials to issue and 'orange alert'. The orange alert means there is a high possibility of large-scale disasters in affected areas. It is the second-highest alert, red being the highest among four levels.
There are currently 20 people who have died as a result of flooding and landslides, and 32 missing.
A group of school children apparently were swept away while trying to cross a flooded river.
According to news reports, about 810 tourists and residents in Soraksan in Gangwon Province were also left isolated due to flooded roads, but all are safe. My coworker Amanda was on her way to Soraksan, but was left stranded outside of the park area when the roads were closed due to flooding. Luckily for her, she was able to spend the night in a hotel and return the next day back to Seoul.
The major river in Seoul (the Han River) overflowed; flooding roads and washing away the ground that held up many houses. Right now there are several hundred familys left homeless.
Tonight, the rain is still falling and is forcast to continue until Thursday.
It looks like I will be staying indoors for most of this week - trying to avoid this miserable weather.
(photos from The Seoul Times)



1 Comments:

At 5:36 a.m. , Blogger michi said...

not looking good, this.
enjoy reading your updates, always.
be safe,

m

 

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