Seoul: As rescuers fought to reach people trapped in a flooded tunnel, authorities in South Korea announced Sunday that at least 26 people are dead and 10 are missing as a result of flooding and landslides.

A significant dam overflowed due to the recent four days of heavy rain in South Korea, which is at the height of its summer monsoon season.
In the intense downpours, the interior ministry reported that 26 people had died and an additional 10 were missing, with the majority of them being buried by landslides or having fallen into a flooded reservoir.

According to the ministry, rescuers were still having trouble getting to 15 cars that were stranded in a 430-meter underground tunnel in Cheongju, North Chungcheong province.

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According to the Yonhap news agency, floodwaters entered the tunnel on Saturday morning too quickly for anyone inside to flee.

Five bodies that have not yet been added to the official death toll were found on Sunday inside a bus that had become submerged in the tunnel, according to Yonhap.
The majority of the casualties, including 17 people who died and 9 people who are still missing, occurred in North Gyeongsang province and were primarily caused by large landslides in the mountainous region that buried homes with occupants inside.

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According to the interior ministry, some of the missing people were swept away by a river that overflowed in North Gyeongsang province.

The Korea Meteorological Administration has issued a warning that the current weather conditions pose a "grave" danger and that more rain is expected through Wednesday.
South Korea frequently experiences flooding during the summer monsoon season, but the nation is usually well-prepared, and the number of fatalities is typically quite low.

Over 11 people died as a result of the nation's record-breaking rains and flooding in the previous year.
Three of them perished while stranded in a basement apartment in Seoul that was made famous around the world by the Oscar-winning Korean movie "Parasite."

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The government claimed that the flooding in 2022 had the heaviest rainfall in Seoul in the 115 years of weather records, and it attributed the extreme weather to climate change.