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Rural community devastated by torrential rains, landslides

Published: 21 Jul. 2025, 19:11

A house with a torn brick wall and a damaged car stands in mid-hill Naeri, Sancheong-eup, around 9:40 a.m. on July 20, following the previous day’s landslide. [KIM MIN-JU]

“The current tore through houses. Some were nearly ripped apart.”

“All the residents have left the village due to fears of further damage,” said Kang Yong-ho, 63, village chief of Naeri Village in Sancheong-eup, Sancheong, South Gyeongsang, around 9:30 a.m. Sunday. “It’s completely empty now.”

An unprecedented evacuation order was issued across Sancheong County due to extreme rainfall on Saturday, and in this village alone, two residents were killed and two others rescued. The county is one of the locations that was hit the worst by the recent cascades of heavy rain.

Homes ripped open, boulders dislodged

Although the village is only about 3 kilometers (1.86 miles) in a straight line from the Sancheong County Office, it sits 300 meters (984.3 feet) above sea level on the slopes of Mount Gisan, at an elevation of 616 meters, which is higher than the county center. Residents mostly cultivate medicinal herbs and rice. The village comprises approximately 10 households.

Climbing up the steep, 2- to 3-meter-wide paved road leading to the village, houses could be seen scattered along the slope. Around the stream running down from the village’s highest point, uprooted trees and scattered rocks hinted at the previous day’s devastation.

Midway up the village, where the stream curves and changes direction, a two-story brick house stood with its outer wall completely torn off by the torrent, exposing the interior. A parked car in front of the house was crushed and left amid rocks and debris. At a nearby intersection, a boulder as thick as two adult arms in diameter appeared to have been ripped from the ground.

A scene of devastation unfolds in Oejeong Village, Sancheong-eup, Sancheong County, South Gyeongsang, on July 20 as torrential rain and a landslide send mud and debris cascading through homes. [NEWS1]

Forestry officials assess damage and report findings around 10:30 a.m. on July 20 at the site of the previous day’s landslide in mid-hill Naeri, Sancheong-eup. [KIM MIN-JU]

“Since morning yesterday, the heavy rain caused the village stream to overflow,” Kang said. “Rocks and debris blocked the drainage path. I’ve lived here for nearly 50 years, but I’ve never seen this much rain or the stream overflow and cover the road like that. Amid the chaos, it seems the fatalities occurred.”

“Two years ago, the county dredged a small stream downtown,” he added. “If that project hadn’t improved drainage downstream, our upper village might’ve been washed away during this downpour.”

Naeri residents took shelter in local senior centers and school dormitories, according to Sancheong County.

Firefighters use a rescue boat to evacuate stranded residents from a flooded village in Daeeui-myeon, Uiryeong County, South Gyeongsang, on the afternoon of July 19. [NEWS1]

Mud and debris fill the interior of a home in mid-hill Naeri, Sancheong-eup, around 9:30 a.m. on July 20. [KIM MIN-JU]

‘What are we supposed to do now?’

At Naebu Village in Buri, located at the foot of Mount Waryong, the scars left by the torrential rains were evident throughout, around 11 a.m. Sunday.

A total of three people died here the day before, and one was seriously injured. Roughly 300 meters to the left toward the mountain peak, all existing structures had vanished without a trace. In their place were landslide debris, boulders the size of adult torsos, tree trunks and building remnants.

The 1,841-square-meter lot where a hanwoo (Korean beef) cattle farm once stood no longer had a trace of the barn. The property had belonged to an elderly couple in their 70s who died in the incident.

“I was helping the couple clear debris around their home to direct the water flow,” said village resident Jung Ki-ho, 61, who witnessed the moment. “As I was heading downhill, the transformer exploded with a ‘bang.’ I turned around, startled, and saw boulders and mud swallowing the barn where they had been.”

Mud and debris from heavy rain the day before engulf the site in Naebu Village, Sancheong-eup, Sancheong County, South Gyeongsang, on the morning of July 20, where an elderly couple and a woman in her 20s were killed. [AN DAE-HUN]

Uprooted trees and boulders scatter the inner road of a village in Naeri, Sancheong-eup, around 9:30 a.m. on July 20. [KIM MIN-JU]

‘Always doting on their grandkids’

Only the couple’s house beneath the barn remained at the scene. Choi Sung-soon, 72, their relative by marriage, stared at a pair of rubber shoes left inside and said blankly, “What are we going to do now? I can’t believe it.”

Choi pointed to other fields owned by the couple and said, “When their grandkids were little, they used to play over there. In the winter, they’d spray water to make a skating rink. They were so kind and thoughtful. We shared everything — even our innermost thoughts …”

She couldn’t finish her sentence.

A woman in her 20s, the daughter of a nearby restaurant owner, also died in the landslide. “Her mother had gone into town to run errands,” a resident said, “and the daughter was left alone when it happened.”

A couple in their 70s, relatives of the elderly couple killed in the previous day's landslide, mutter in disbelief while visiting the disaster site in Naebu Village, Sancheong-eup, on the morning of July 20. [AN DAE-HUN]

A landslide leaves a house in mid-hill Naeri, Sancheong-eup, with one wall completely torn off, exposing the interior, around 9:30 a.m. on July 20. [KIM MIN-JU]

Desperate rescue of 34 trapped people

As landslides triggered by extreme rain collapsed mountains across Sancheong, desperate rescue operations unfolded. Around 5:10 p.m. Saturday in a village in Danseong-myeon, a sudden landslide left 34 people — including 16 residents and tourists — stranded, according to fire authorities. At 5:44 p.m., they called for help, and firefighters arrived in the village around 7 p.m.

Boulders and debris from the landslide blocked roads, and knee-high water filled the area. Firefighters waded in and rescued all 34 people after a six-hour operation.

“Most residents were in their 70s or 80s,” said one firefighter. “With the rising creek water, we had to use ropes to guide them to safety. Thanks to their calm cooperation, we were able to rescue everyone safely.”

A pair of rubber shoes sits abandoned outside a home in Naebu Village, Sancheong-eup, on July 20. The elderly couple who lived there were killed in a landslide triggered by heavy rain the previous day. [AN DAE-HUN]

14 dead or missing

South Gyeongsang provincial authorities reported 10 deaths and four missing due to the torrential rain as of 3 p.m. Sunday. Two of the six previously missing were later found dead, raising the death toll. All casualties occurred in Sancheong. A total of 7,482 people from 5,829 households sought refuge in nearby senior centers, relatives’ homes, and schools.

Authorities recorded 433 cases of damage to public facilities like roads and streams, and 63 cases of private property damage including farmland.

“We’re conducting restoration work and have requested that the central government designate the area as a special disaster zone and provide emergency restoration funds,” said a provincial official.

Access to Naeri Village in Sancheong-eup, Sancheong County, is restricted around 9 a.m. on July 20 due to the risk of additional landslides. [KIM MIN-JU]

There were 45 cases of damage to public infrastructure and 27 to private property, according to Sancheong County. Authorities deployed 660 personnel and 55 pieces of equipment, completing emergency repairs on 29 public sites, accounting for 64 percent of the total cases.

In March, a wildfire in Sicheon-myeon, Sancheong County, burned for 213 hours, spreading to Hadong County and killing four people. The fire left 14 people dead or injured and scorched more than 1,800 hectares of forest. While the recent landslide also caused casualties in Sicheon-myeon, the Korea Forest Service stated that the landslide occurred in a different area from the wildfire.

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.
BY KIM MIN-JU, AH DAE-HUN, LEE EUN-JI, WE SUNG-WOOK [[email protected]]