South Korean man drowns in flood after telling wife: ‘car being swept away’

Intense rainfall has battered South Korea in recent years, prompting questions about its flood prevention measures

A South Korean man was believed to have drowned in his submerged car on Thursday, after he told his wife on the phone that their vehicle was being swept away by treacherous floods caused by record rainfall.

Rescue personnel discovered the victim, in his 50s, in the South Chungcheong province of Seosan at 6.15am local time. He was later declared dead at a nearby medical centre, the Korea Herald reported.

Authorities also responded to other reports of submerged cars in the area, rescuing three people from one vehicle shortly before the dead man was found.

The victim reportedly called his wife and told her: “The car is being swept away.”

The province had recorded up to 114.9mm of rain per hour between Wednesday and Thursday, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration, which said the mark was a “once-in-a-century” record for the month of July.

In the same month last year, parts of the country were also lashed by intense rainfall, which authorities at the time said occurred only “about every 200 years” across three areas – Geumsan in South Chungcheong, Chupungnyeong in North Chungcheong and Gunsan in North Jeolla.

That event led to four deaths. Agence France-Presse reported that rescuers found a body trapped in a lift after a studio flat was flooded in South Chungcheong, while another victim was found dead and believed to have been sucked into a drainage system while checking his crops in Daegu.

In 2023, at least 40 people died in under a week of heavy rainfall, including 13 who were trapped in an underpass in Cheongju. The tragedy prompted experts to question whether enough had been done to prepare for dangerous weather.

Then president Yoon Suk-yeol echoed a warning he made the year before at a disaster response meeting: “This type of extreme weather is going to become the norm so we need to manage it as the norm, and we totally need to get rid of the idea that we can’t do anything about unusual circumstances.”

The country in 2022 committed 20 per cent more funds to disaster prevention, earmarking 2 trillion won for the cause, according to the interior ministry.

According to Reuters, a 2020 study by the Korea Meteorological Administration found that costs from property damage and casualties under extreme weather had tripled from the yearly average the decade before in South Korea.

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