South Korea: Heavy rain floods parts of Seoul after record heat

Seoul, July 8 (IANS) A sudden downpour flooded roads and disrupted public transport in parts of Seoul on Tuesday, hours after the South Korean capital recorded its hottest early July temperature in more than a century.

Heavy rain swept through southwestern Seoul, briefly inundating roads near an apartment complex in Gocheok-dong, as well as around Mokdong Bridge and Yanghwa Grand Bridge in the late afternoon, according to local fire authorities.

The flooding triggered severe traffic congestion during the evening rush hour.

A section of Seoul's subway line number 1 was temporarily suspended due to the weather, further complicating commuters' return home, Yonhap news agency reported.

Authorities in Yeongdeungpo and Dongjak districts issued emergency text messages to their residents, warning them to avoid walking paths near streams, valleys and other places vulnerable to flash floods.

Earlier in the day, temperatures in the capital soared to 37.7 degree Celsius at around 3 p.m., the highest recorded for early July in 117 years, according to the weather agency.

The record was broken after 86 years as the previous record high for the first 10 days of July in Seoul was 36.8 degrees Celsius filed on July 9, 1939.

This became Seoul's hottest day for early July in 117 years since temperature observations began in 1908, it noted. Besides Seoul, new high-temperature records for early July were set in many other cities nationwide -- Incheon (35.6 degrees Celsius), Wonju of Gangwon Province (35.4 degrees Celsius), Suwon of Gyeonggi Province (35.7 degrees Celsius), Cheongju of North Chungcheong Province (35.7 degrees Celsius), Daejeon (36.3 degrees Celsius), Gochang of North Jeolla Province (35.8 degrees Celsius) and Busan (34.5 degrees Celsius), the weather agency said.

Temperatures in the border city of Paju and Gwangmyeong, just south of Seoul, exceeded 40 degrees Celsius. It marked the first time that temperatures have reached over 40 degrees Celsius in July, reported Yonhap news agency.

Seoul experienced its ninth consecutive tropical night between Monday and Tuesday.

According to the weather agency, the nation's average temperature, excluding the southern Jeju Island, in the first seven days of July was 28.1 degrees Celsius, the highest figure on record since relevant record-keeping began in 1973.

--IANS

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