Recent rains in North Korea flooded thousands of houses and vast farmland, state media says

Seoul, South Korea. The recent Heavy rains in northwestern North Korea flooded thousands of homes and a large expanse of farmland and left many residents homeless and living in makeshift tents, North Korean state media reported Wednesday.

North Korea earlier said more than 5,000 people stranded in the cities of Sinuiju and Uiju were rescued by airlift and other evacuation work after rains on Saturday caused a river on the border with China to swell. But he did not mention any specific damage or say if there were any casualties.

North Korea is prone to flooding from heavy summer rains due to poor drainage, deforestation and crumbling infrastructure.

Korea’s official Central News Agency said Wednesday that some 4,100 houses, 3,000 hectares (about 7,410 acres) of agricultural fields and numerous public buildings, roads and railways in Sinuiju and Uiju were flooded.

He said about 150 people in nearby Jagang province had also been cut off due to flooding of another river there, but all were evacuated to safety in military helicopters.

KCNA did not say whether anyone was killed or injured in those flood-ravaged areas.

At an emergency Politburo meeting chaired by leader Kim Jong Un in Sinuiju, officials decided to build 4,400 new houses and strengthen embankments in Sinuiju and Uiju and restore damaged facilities in Jagang province, the report said.

Kim ordered urgent measures to supply flood victims with stored disaster relief materials and asked Politburo members to visit displaced people living in tents to comfort them and observe their living conditions, KCNA said.

Kim also called on authorities to “strictly punish” those he said neglected their responsibilities in disaster prevention. KCNA did not specify what punishment would be imposed, but said Politburo members later approved the appointments of new Workers’ Party secretaries in flood-affected regions and a new public security minister.

Kim previously said that North Korea’s emergency response agency and the Ministry of Public Security did not know the exact populations of the flood-affected areas, so the number of people rescued was much higher than expected.