South Korea rains force evacuation of hundreds; baby dies in landslide

SEOUL: Torrential rain in South Korea triggered a landslide that killed a one-year-old baby and forced hundreds of families to evacuate as it flooded roads and bridges, authorities said on Friday.

The death was the second since the summer rainy season began on Tuesday, after a landslide buried the baby's home in the southeastern city of Yeongju overnight.

Rescuers pulled to safety nine people in the home when the 10-ton landslide hit, as fire authorities deployed more than 40 vehicles and 110 firefighters, media said. But the baby died soon after being sent to hospital.

Yeongju was among the hardest hit by the monsoon, with more than 284 mm (11.2 inches) of rain since midnight on Thursday, said disaster officials, who have also declared heavy rain warnings elsewhere in the south, including the island of Jeju.

Weather officials said they expected more rain in the south until Saturday morning, while figures from disaster authorities showed 350 people were evacuated, most of them in the southwestern province of Jeolla.

Dozens of facilities were damaged, with several roads and highways blocked or being repaired.

In the southwestern county of Hampyeong, a public worker was found dead on Thursday after she went out to check a floodgate on the river. She had gone missing on Tuesday.

Last August, record downpours that cut power and submerged subways and homes in Seoul, the capital, killed at least eight.