Heavy rain that pounded South Korea this week have killed at least three people, and flooded houses and farmland nationwide, officials said on Friday.A man in his 90s was killed when the roof of his house collapsed in the central city of Gongju on Thursday, while a construction worker drowned in a pool of water created by the torrential downpours at an apartment construction site in Yongin, south of Seoul, on the same day, reports Yonhap News Agency.
The circumstances of the third death were not immediately known.The downpour also flooded more than 2,900 hectares of farmland across the country, according to government officials.The seasonal rain toppled scores of trees, and submerged more than 190 properties and cars, forcing residents to evacuate.
Damage was also reported at bridges and dams.The annual monsoon season that brought three days of heavy rain hit the country's central region the hardest, where an average precipitation of 270.4 mm was reported in Gyeonggi province alone.
The rainfall continued through late Thursday, bringing a daily precipitation of more than 280 mm in areas like Suwon and Yangju in Gyeonggi.The heavy rain has weakened in the past few hours, prompting the government to lower its rain warning as of 3 a.m. on Friday.
The weather agency, however, advised residents to stay on alert with an additional 40 to 50 mm of rain expected in the day in parts of Gyeonggi and Gangwon, as well as South and North Chungcheong provinces.