At Least 19 Dead From Torrential Rain in South Korea

The rainstorm damaged 6,752 buildings, with more than 14,000 people needing shelter, among whom 2,549 were yet to return home as of Tuesday. 

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The death toll of last week’s landslides and floods triggered by heavy rain in southwestern South Korea has risen to 19, with 9 people still missing, the government said on Tuesday. 

Among them, 10 people were killed in landslides, house collapses and flash floods in southern Sancheong county, one of the areas most affected by the torrential rain. Some 760 millimeters of rain fell in the county between July 16 and 19, with nearly 300 millimeters on July 19. Neighboring Hapcheon and Hadong counties received 699mm and 621.5mm of rain, respectively, Al Jazeera reported.

For context, the county received 1,514 millimeters of rain last year. 

The rainstorm damaged 6,752 buildings, with more than 14,000 people needing shelter, among whom 2,549 were yet to return home as of Tuesday. 

The Korea Meteorological Administration said that heavy rainfall in Korea was caused by the stagnation of a mesoscale low-pressure system at the intersection of warm and humid air in the South and the cold and dry air in the northern part of the country.

This is not the first time that South Korea has suffered from severe rainstorms. During the rainy season in central South Korea in 2020, parts of the country endured 54 consecutive days of rainfall, killing 45 and displacing nearly 7,000 people. In 2022, Seoul was hit by the heaviest rainstorm since 1942, killing 14. 

Climate Change 

There is consensus among climate experts that extreme weather events like this are becoming stronger and more frequent in a rapidly warming world.

A warmer atmosphere, heated by fossil fuel emissions, can hold more moisture, resulting in heavier downpours. For every 1C that Earth’s atmospheric temperature rises, the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere can increase by about 7%.

“Over the past 60 years, the sea water temperature around the peninsula has risen significantly. The warming of seawater causes the air at the lower levels to rise in temperature. When it meets the cold air above, convection is likely to form, thereby increasing the possibility of heavy showers,” said Jang Eun-chul, Professor of the Department of Atmospheric Science of Gongju University. 

According to the Korea Meteorological Administration, from 1968 to 2017, the temperature in the eastern waters of the Korean Peninsula rose by 0.71C, while that in the southern waters increased by 0.04C to 1.86C. The average global ocean temperature, in contrast, rose by 0.56C in the past century.

“Water vapor on the Korean Peninsula comes mainly from the South China Sea and the Western Pacific Ocean, which is gradually increasing, providing decent conditions for more frequent and intense precipitation,” Jang added. 

2024 was South Korea’s hottest year on record, with a significant number of abnormally warm days and unusually warm sea surface temperatures, according to the country’s weather service.