Tragic Call: Man Dies After Car Swept Away in Record Rain

A man in his 50s was found dead Thursday morning inside a submerged vehicle in Seosan, South Chungcheong Province, hours after he called his wife to tell her that the car is being swept away in the record-breaking torrential rain.

The victim and his car were discovered by the rescue authorities of the city at around 6:15 a.m. He was moved to the nearby Seosan Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

Officials received a report about submerged cars in Seoknam-dong district of Seosan at around 3:59 a.m. They rescued three people from one vehicle at around 5:14 a.m. and got to the victim’s car an hour later, which was too late to save him.

It was reported that the victim had called his wife and told her, “The car is being swept away.”

Police and rescue officials of the city are conducting further investigations into the accident.

As much as 114.9 millimeters of rain per hour had poured on the South Chungcheong Provincial city, between Wednesday night and the early hours of Thursday. This, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration, was a rate of precipitation that happens “once in a century” for the month of July.