59 Dead in South Korean Landslides

This week's record rainfall rose to 59 dead and 10 missing in South Korea, the country's disaster management agency said Friday. Between Wednesday and Thursday, nearly 1,000 people, mostly Seoul citizens, worked to help clean up mud and debris in residential areas and roads in the southern part of the city, assisting homeowners and bringing in relief supplies, according to Yonhap news agency. The heaviest downpours in a century left about 10,000 people from 4,800 households in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province homeless, while more than 2,000 people in nearby Paju and other areas were evacuated from their homes because of fears of flooding. The rains left more than 11,000 people from 5,250 households homeless. Power supply was cut to some 130,000 houses nationwide, the disaster management agency said. A total of 301.5 millimeters (just over 12 inches) of rain fell in Seoul on Wednesday, the largest single-day rainfall in July since records began in 1907.