On the afternoon of the 17th, when extreme heavy rain poured across Gwangju, roads in the Sinyongdong area of Bukgu, Gwangju, were flooded, and vehicles were submerged in water. Photo by Yonhap News Agency provided by a reader
With more than 400 mm of record-breaking rainfall in a single day, various parts of downtown Gwangju were flooded, and a series of missing person reports have prompted authorities to continue search operations for a second consecutive day.
According to the Gwangju Bukbu Police Station and other sources on July 18, at around 10:15 p.m. the previous day, police received a report that a man, estimated to be in his 60s, had been swept away by the rapid current of the Gwangju Stream near Sinan Bridge in Sinandong, Bukgu.
The report was filed after a district office employee, who was visiting the flood site for safety measures, was informed by a resident who witnessed the incident.
Police and fire authorities immediately launched a search, but the missing person's whereabouts have not yet been confirmed. The police plan to continue the search, including by analyzing nearby closed-circuit (CC) TV footage to secure evidence of the disappearance.
On the same day, a man in his 70s, identified as Mr. A, who lives in Geumgokdong, Bukgu, was reported missing by his family after losing contact with them. It is reported that Mr. A did not have dementia or any other significant underlying health conditions. Mr. A left home around 3:00 p.m. that day, saying he was going out to operate a water pump, and has not been heard from since.
A police official stated, "At the time, the weather was extremely unstable, and we cannot rule out the possibility that he got lost or encountered a dangerous situation due to the heavy rain. We are currently conducting a search focused on the area near Mr. A's residence."
The previous day, Gwangju recorded an extreme daily rainfall of 426.4 mm, breaking the record for the highest daily precipitation in the region's history.
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