CASUALTIES REPORTED BY RECORD RAINFALLS

[Anchor Lead]

Roads are submerged and lives are lost due to heavy downpours that pounded metropolitan Seoul and the central region since Monday night. At least nine people have died while seven others are missing after being swept by flash floods.

[Pkg]

Seocho-gu district in Seoul, where over 350 millimeters of rain fell Monday night. Cars are stranded as strong currents sweep through roads.

[Soundbite] Min Hae-gi(Seocho-gu Resident) : "Cars lost power and got entangled, paralyzing traffic."

Nearby buildings were also inundated. At this commercial complex, where the water reached the fourth basement level, a person was swept by a rapid current, according to a witness who filed a report. Rescue efforts are slow as the task of pumping out water is expected to take 3 to 4 days. The downpours have also claimed lives. In Hwaseong, Gyeonggido Province, a landslide near a factory hit a container which was used as an employee dormitory. One worker died after being buried in mud.

[Soundbite] (Co-worker of deceased(VOICE MODIFIED)) : "We worked together laughing the previous day. He must have died while sleeping."

A civil servant who was cleaning up fallen trees on the road also died after being electrocuted. The official is believed to have accidentally touched an electric wire tangled up in the trees.

[Soundbite] (Nearby Resident(VOICE MODIFIED)) : "I believe a dozen officials came from the district office to chop up trees. Many people came by."

In Gwangju, Gyeonggido Province, where 100 millimeters of rain fell per hour, soil completely covered a bus stop killing a passenger waiting for the bus. Elsewhere, a family living in a semi-basement apartment unit also died as water rushed into their house.