A landslide struck an apartment building in Geoje, South Gyeongsang province, after torrential rain inundated southern South Korea, killing one person and injuring others. The disaster followed a weekend of exceptional rainfall that flooded streets, disrupted public services and forced hundreds of residents to evacuate.
The landslide buried the first floor of the building on Monday morning. Police and firefighters pulled three residents from the structure. One was found in cardiac arrest and later pronounced dead at a hospital. Two people were injured in Geoje, while two more injuries were reported in nearby cities, bringing the regional injury count to four.
Geoje recorded 124.5 millimetres of rain in a single hour, the city’s highest one-hour total since official local records began in 1972. More than 400 millimetres fell overnight from Sunday into Monday. The broader weekend total reached 805.7 millimetres by 8 a.m. Monday and climbed to 912 millimetres by 6 p.m., according to the supplied reports. Nearby Tongyeong received 671.9 millimetres over the same weekend period.
The downpour turned roads into fast-moving channels and left vehicles submerged. Authorities suspended bus services and household rubbish collection where roads were flooded or damaged. Some tourist sites closed, and twelve schools and kindergartens were reported flooded. Emergency services handled dozens of calls related to rain damage and people needing assistance.
About 390 people were evacuated, while roughly 3,580 homes lost electricity. Officials had urged residents to avoid driving, keep away from riverbanks and move to safer ground where necessary. Prime Minister Han Seong-sook instructed police, firefighters and other agencies to prioritise rescues and reach people stranded or threatened by the rising water.
Weather officials said parts of South Gyeongsang had received the equivalent of an entire summer’s rainfall in two days. The rainfall continued into Monday, prolonging the danger of further slope failures and flooding even after the initial landslide.
The South Korean emergency unfolded amid destructive weather across East and Southeast Asia. Heavy rain and storms also caused flooding and infrastructure damage in China, Japan and the Philippines. In Geoje, however, the immediate focus remained on damaged neighbourhoods, restoring transport and power, and protecting residents while saturated ground continued to pose a landslide risk.
The disaster demonstrated how quickly extreme rainfall can overwhelm an urban area: the same water that isolated roads also interrupted routine municipal work and complicated access for rescuers. With hundreds already displaced, official warnings centred on avoiding unnecessary travel and leaving exposed locations before conditions deteriorated further.
