Sawt Falasteen - South Korea rain death toll rises to 14: government

The toll could rise, with 12 people still unaccounted for after five days of heavy rain.

Close to 170 millimetres (6.7 inches) of rain hit Gapyeong county in Gyeonggi province — 70 kilometres (40 miles) east of Seoul -- early Sunday, leaving at least two dead and four missing.

A woman in her 70s was killed when her house collapsed in a landslide while body of a man in his 40s was found near a bridge after he drowned, Yonhap news agency reported.

The total number of deaths from the five-day deluge now stands at at least 14, according to official data.

Most of the deaths occurred in the southern county of Sancheong, which has seen nearly 800 millimetres of rain since Wednesday.

Two bodies were found there early Sunday during search and rescue operations, raising the number of deaths in the rural county of 33,000 to eight, with six still missing.

South Korea typically experiences monsoon rains in July and is usually well-prepared. But this week, the country's southern regions were hit by especially intense downpours, with some of the heaviest hourly rainfall on record, official weather data showed.

Scientists say climate change has made extreme weather events more frequent and intense around the world. In 2022, South Korea endured record-breaking rains and flooding, which killed at least 11 people.

F.AbuZaid--SF-PST