Police declared a special emergency as streets, subway stations, underpasses and residential districts were flooded throughout the capital.

More than a thousand officers were mobilized to help ease gridlock and block roadways deemed too dangerous.

The National Emergency Management Agency said floods or mudslides shut 36 major roads nationwide, including 23 in Seoul, and more than 700 homes were flooded in the capital. Mobile phone networks were cut off in some areas.

The Korea Meteorological Administration said downpours tallying more than 110mm of rain per hour, a record volume witnessed once or twice in a century, were recorded in the country’s central and southern areas, as well as in the Seoul metropolitan area.

The precipitation in Seoul between Tuesday and early Wednesday morning exceeded 400mm, the KMA said, adding heavy rain is expected through early Thursday morning.

A number of flooded main roads in downtown and southern Seoul were closed to traffic, while a motorway linking Seoul to southern Gyeonggi Province was closed due to a landslide.

More than 150 traffic lights were malfunctioning in Seoul, worsening the traffic gridlock.

Downpours were particularly severe in the areas south of the Han River, where a large number of intersections and neighborhoods were submerged in knee-deep water.

The Gwanghwan Intersection at the heart of Seoul was also inundated with water.

About 60 households in Seoul’s Socho district were isolated due to a landslide.

The Seoul government said 76 people in 36 households have been sent to a refugee camp in the capital, as 710 houses were reported submerged.

Two people were reported missing in the Bulgwang stream in northwestern Seoul, while another two went missing near a vacation home in Gapyeong, east of Seoul.

In Uijeongbu, north of Seoul, where 360mm of rain was recorded over the past two days, three people were reported missing in flooded streams and rivers. (From news reports)