TORRENTIAL RAIN CONTINUES TO SWEEP ACROSS NATION

[Anchor Lead]

Torrential rain is continuing across Korea. Gangwon-do Province and northern Gyeonggi-do Province have seen massive precipitation. At one point, the situation was even life-threatening with villages and rice paddies becoming inundated.

[Pkg]

The area around the Imjingang River in Yeoncheon, Gyeonggi-do Province, looks like a reservoir. Only one structure here is still visible - the only reminder that this place used to be a campsite. The water level reaches up to two-thirds of the height of an electric pole. Half of the greenhouses with crops growing inside are also inundated now. Nearby rice paddies can be hardly seen. Locals are worried about their crops. The roads leading to the village have been closed, cutting off access to the village. A livestock farm is half-submerged. A cow is precariously sticking out its head out of the water. As water levels surged all of a sudden in Cheorwon, Gangwon-do Province, because of the torrential rain, farmers had no time to evacuate their cattle. A man watches a container being swept away by the current. The mere speed of it is enough to tell how powerful the water current is. In this flooded village in Cheorwon the water level is now thigh-high. All of its residents have been evacuated.