South Gyeongsang, which had been praying for rain, stunned by record deluge as extreme weather polarizes

A road in Okpo-dong, Geoje, South Gyeongsang Province, is submerged on Monday. [Yonhap]

South Gyeongsang Province, gripped by drought, was struck by extreme rainfall of a severity expected only once every 200 years. The rapid succession of heat waves, drought and record downpours is making extreme weather a new normal.

According to the Korea Meteorological Administration and fire authorities, Geoje in South Gyeongsang Province received 956.1 millimeters of rain and Tongyeong received 766.9 mm between midnight Saturday and 5 a.m. Tuesday.

The intensity of the rainfall over short periods was particularly striking. Geoje recorded a peak hourly rainfall of 124.5 mm and Tongyeong 97.4 mm, both shattering their all-time one-hour rainfall records. The KMA assessed that, based on peak hourly rainfall, the storm represented a once-in-200-years event for Geoje and a once-in-100-years event for Tongyeong.

Just days earlier, the region had been suffering from severe drought. Last month, South Gyeongsang Province received only 68.0 mm of rain — 21.9 percent of the historical average of 304.7 mm — the lowest on record for the month. According to the KMA's hydrological drought information system, cumulative rainfall in the province over the past six months stood at 586.7 mm, roughly 60 percent of the historical average. Agricultural reservoir levels had fallen to 33.3 percent.

As the prolonged heat wave and drought deepened shortages of water for farming and daily use, the National Fire Agency issued a national fire mobilization order on Aug. 11 and deployed firefighting resources from across the country to South Gyeongsang Province. It was only the second time such an order had been issued for drought, following a similar mobilization in Gangneung, Gangwon Province, in August last year.

Distribution map of surface winds and hourly accumulated rainfall in the early hours of Monday (1–4 a.m.) [Korea Meteorological Administration]

Six days later, however, the situation reversed entirely. The National Fire Agency issued a third-level national fire mobilization order to deploy additional firefighting resources to Geoje, which had been hit hard by the torrential rain. In the span of just a few days, the same province that had mobilized firefighters to secure water during a drought was receiving emergency fire support to respond to a flood.

The heavy rains triggered 2,574 damage reports across the southern part of the country, including flooded homes and roads and fallen trees. South Gyeongsang Province accounted for the largest share with 2,342 cases, followed by Gwangju and South Jeolla Province with 144, Busan with 67 and Ulsan with 20.

There were also casualties. At around 4:42 a.m. Monday, a landslide near an apartment building in Okpo-dong, Geoje, buried the first floor of the building, killing a man in his 20s and injuring two others, including a woman in her 50s. At around 5:03 a.m. the same day, a landslide in Gonri-do, Sanyang-eup, Tongyeong, buried a woman in her 60s; she was rescued after about an hour and a half by firefighters and coast guard personnel.

The KMA forecast that rain of around 10 mm per hour would continue falling Tuesday, centered on Jeju and the southern coast of the Gyeongsang region, with an additional 60 mm or so expected through the morning over South Gyeongsang Province and the southern coast of South Jeolla Province. It urged the public to remain alert to further damage from landslides and soil erosion, warning that the ground had already been weakened by the heavy rainfall.

Regional weather polarization sharpens — 'compound disaster response needed'

Recent weather patterns in South Korea [produced with Gemini]

The extreme rainfall was not simply the result of an influx of moisture; multiple meteorological conditions converged to produce it. According to the KMA, a mass of hot, humid air carrying more than 70 mm of rainfall potential flowed into the southern coast via a low-level jet stream from the south. An upper-level trough combined with strong low-level convergence to intensify a low-pressure system.

The most significant factor, analysts said, was a powerful high-pressure system to the east that slowed the low-pressure system's movement, allowing rain clouds to linger over the southern coast. The coastline and terrain around Geoje also favored the development of a mesoscale low-pressure system, concentrating rainfall over a narrow area.

The widening disparity in rainfall between regions has become an increasingly pronounced trend. The KMA's "July 2026 Climate Characteristics" report found that last month central Korea saw heavy rain from a stationary front while the south endured heat waves and drought under the influence of the North Pacific high-pressure system — a clear example of regional climate polarization.

As extreme weather events multiply, the number of days requiring simultaneous responses to heat waves and flooding or typhoons is also rising. According to the Ministry of Interior and Safety, the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters ran its heat wave and flood-and-storm response centers simultaneously on a total of 13 days between 2020 and 2025. There were no such overlapping days in the three years from 2020 to 2022. The figure then rose to two days in 2023, three days in 2024 and eight days last year — a fourfold increase in two years, underscoring the growing impact of climate change.

The KMA highlighted the trend in its "2025 Abnormal Climate Report," published last year, warning that climate disasters such as heat waves, droughts and wildfires are increasingly threatening daily life as compound disasters, and that building a scientific monitoring system and developing countermeasures to address climate change have become urgent priorities.

newday@heraldcorp.com