It was not just rain from the monsoon season. So-called "water bombs" struck Gyeongbuk over the past three days.
According to the casualty figures identified by Gyeongbuk Province as of 6 p.m. on the 16th, the death toll from the water bombs that hit the Gyeongbuk region from the 13th to the 15th has risen to 19. The deaths were recorded as 9 in Yecheon, 4 in Yeongju, 4 in Bonghwa, and 2 in Mungyeong. There are 8 missing persons (all in Yecheon) and 17 injured (12 in Yecheon, 2 in Yeongju, 1 in Mungyeong, and 2 in Bonghwa).
On the morning of the 16th, a village in Gamcheon-myeon, Yecheon-gun, Gyeongbuk, lies devastated by a landslide, awaiting restoration. [Image source=Yonhap News]
The water bombs also caused tremendous damage to crops in the Gyeongbuk region. So far, 1,562.8 hectares are reported to have been submerged.
Mungyeong recorded the largest damaged area with 532 hectares, followed by Yecheon with 441.6 hectares, Bonghwa with 350 hectares, Yeongju with 138 hectares, Sangju with 88.9 hectares, and Cheongsong with 12.3 hectares, with damages continuing to occur.
Three livestock barns were also damaged, resulting in the death of 60,020 animals, with 6,001 animals reported affected in Mungyeong alone. The damage is expected to increase further. A total of 2,359 people from 1,576 households were temporarily evacuated, and power outages occurred in 10,464 households.
In an industrial complex in Yeongju, power poles were overturned due to the collapse of a nearby embankment, causing a power outage, and about 40 households experienced communication disruptions.
In six northern Gyeongbuk areas where heavy rain fell, 39 cases of road slope collapses occurred. Landslides occurred twice each in Yecheon and Bonghwa, and soil erosion happened twice each in Yeongju, Mungyeong, and Yecheon. There were also 34 cases of embankment collapses and about 50 cases of water and sewage system damages in the Gyeongbuk region. Fourteen cultural heritage sites and about ten traditional temples were not spared from the water bombs.
National and local roads were controlled in many places, and train operations on the Jungang Line (Cheongnyangni~Andong), Yeongdong Line (Yeongju~Donghae), and Gyeongbuk Line (Yeongju~Gimcheon) were also halted.
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