Heavy rain and gusty winds swept the Seoul metropolitan area on Sunday afternoon, turning leafy boulevards into shallow rivers and overwhelming drainage grates. Gangbuk district logged 53.5 millimeters of rainfall in one hour, the peak intensity recorded anywhere in South Korea during the storm, according to municipal and weather officials cited by Yonhap News Agency.
Clogged drains and knee-deep intersections
Fallen leaves swept by gale-force winds plugged catch basins across the capital, accelerating flooding in low-lying pockets. By 5 p.m., Seoul fire authorities had fielded 129 emergency calls—47 requests for drainage help, 21 reports of toppled trees and 60 safety checks on public facilities. Roads beneath Jeungsan Bridge in Seodaemun were fully blocked around 3:04 p.m., and a fallen tree obstructed a busy corridor in Gangnam. Residents in parts of Eunpyeong waded through water above the knee.
City officials restricted access to 16 major streams as levels rose, and traffic warnings covered several highways. Cumulative rainfall through 5 p.m. reached 65 millimeters in Gangbuk while Songpa, in the south, saw only 20 millimeters, illustrating how sharply the cells varied inside the city limits.
Alerts, pumping stations and cancelled events
Seoul issued a citywide emergency text at 3:16 p.m. urging residents to avoid low-lying areas. Heavy-rain advisories for northeastern, northwestern and southwestern districts were lifted at 3:30 p.m., though showers continued into the evening. The city activated a Level 1 emergency response at 2:40 p.m. and ran 12 rainwater pumping stations to clear inundated arterials.
The downpour forced organisers to cancel the Grand Mint Festival scheduled at Olympic Park in Songpa. Shop owners were seen clearing leaf piles from drains by hand. "Although the rain appears to be letting up, reports of damage continue to come in," a Seoul official told reporters, adding that district offices were coordinating to prevent secondary accidents.
Damage spreads to Incheon and Gyeonggi
Neighbouring Incheon and Gyeonggi Province reported their own wind-and-rain damage. Fire officials rescued three people trapped in a vehicle on a flooded Incheon road just before 3 p.m., and Incheon authorities logged 78 storm-related incidents. Gyeonggi received 323 damage reports, while uprooted trees and torn storefront signs were recorded as far south as Jeju, according to Yonhap.
Incheon International Airport cancelled 40 flights on Sunday because of the weather. Meteorologists warned that additional showers could linger into Monday, keeping drainage crews on rotation even after the heaviest cell moved east. Seoul Metro reported minor delays on several lines as passengers tracked surface flooding online, and convenience stores near Yeonsinnae said bottled-water sales jumped as commuters detoured around submerged underpasses.