Heavy downpours hits southern parts of S. Korea

(Yonhap) -- Torrential downpours in the southern parts of South Korea flooded local farms and houses, leaving two people dead and causing damage across the region, the police and weather agency said Thursday.

   An 85-year-old woman, surnamed Yeom, was found dead by alandslide in Boseong, a town in South Jeolla Province, 397 kilometers southwest of Seoul, after being buried in soil for an hour until an emergency rescue squad recovered her body.

   Boseong was drenched with heavy rains of up to 47.5 millimeters per hour.

   Earlier in the day, a Hapcheon resident in South Gyeongsang Province, 354 kilometers southeast of the country's capital, was killed after he fell into a drain near a farm. He was found about 6 kilometers away from where he went missing, the police said.

   Three river banks in Hapcheon were washed away, with 69 hectares of farmland flooded by the 300 millimeters of rain that fell over the last two days.

   The state weather agency earlier issued a downpour warning for parts of South Jeolla Province and the southern resort island of Jeju.

   The police and regional governments in the areas have set up barriers near submersible bridges and are muscling up efforts to prevent further damages, they said. 

   The weather agency forecast the rain will continue in southern Korea through Friday with gale force winds and thunder.

   Meanwhile, the state-run Korea Water Resources Corp. said it began discharging some 5,000 tons of water per second as of 7:50 p.m., from two water gates near Nakdong River, the main headspring for the southern region.