Heavy rains battered southern provinces overnight, leaving one person missing, dozens of homes without power after a lightning strike, and roads, national parks and hiking trails off limits, the interior ministry said Wednesday.
Rains of up to 68.5 millimeters per hour fell in North Chungcheong, South Jeolla and South Gyeongsang provinces, prompting the anti-disaster office under the interior ministry to upgrade the heavy rain advisory to "alert" from "caution."
The damage was concentrated in the southwestern city of Gwangju and its surrounding South Jeolla Province.
A woman in her 60s went missing in a rural village in the county of Hampyeong after she left home to open a floodgate, and a search is under way.
In Gwangju, one house was damaged, a construction site was flooded, and some 30 households suffered a power outage due to a lightning strike.
Twenty-one people were evacuated from their homes in Gwangju, South Jeolla Province and South Gyeongsang Province after trees fell on their houses or due to fears of flooding.
Traffic was blocked off from 15 roads, two underpasses, nine riverside parking lots and 35 bridges, while 10 national parks and 299 hiking trails were off limits, according to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters.
Source: Yonhap News Agency