Heavy downpours in S. Korea have left 31 people dead, 11 missing as of Monday

Deadly torrential pounded central and southern parts of South Korea over the weekend,… and in that one-week period alone, at least 13 people have died and two others went missing,… forcing thousands of people to leave their homes
Lee Kyung-eun with more.
Due to the past nine days of heavy monsoon rain in South Korea, 31 people have died and 11 have gone missing.
Nearly half of the casualties were reported over the last weekend when torrential rain slammed the central and southern part of the country.
Authorities say 13 people died and 2 went missing from Friday to Sunday,…while some 44-hundred had to evacuate.
That amounts to nearly seven-thousand evacuees in total.
The country’s southwestern Jeollabuk-do Province is among the hardest-hit areas.
Floods inundated villages near the Seomjingang River after the river broke its banks.
In the southern part of Jeolla-do Province, much of Gokseoung County is now covered with mud due to a massive landslide.
In Gyeongsangnam-do Province, people are dealing with an enormous amount of trash that flowed in due to the waterbomb.
Recovery work is underway in the affected areas.
Among some 13-thousand facilities that have been destroyed, including farmland,…about two-thirds have received emergency recovery aid.
To speed up efforts, Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki is urging the government to provide aid immediately, even calling for the use of extra budget if necessary.
Currently, families living in areas recently declared so-called “Special Disaster Zone” can receive about 8-hundred U.S. dollars if their homes are flooded,…54-hundred dollars in case of partial destruction, and some 10-thousand dollars for total destruction.
To further ease the burden on the people, he ordered payment dates for electricity bills, health insurance, and national pensions be delayed.
Lee Kyung-eun, Arirang News.