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A fire service rescue squad paddles through flood waters in the Jeongbaengi Village in western Daegu following a torrential downpour that hit the area early on July 10, 2024. (Yonhap)

After heavy rain early Wednesday morning wreaked havoc across Korea, causing property damage and loss of life, there was one bright moment — a son’s dramatic rescue of his mother in a flash flood in Daejeon.

Kim Jung-hun appeared on the “Kim Hyeon-jeong News Show” radio program on CBS on Thursday to explain the circumstances of his mother’s rescue during flash flooding the previous day. Kim’s mother lives in Jeongbaengi Village, a rural area on the outskirts of southwestern Daejeon, which was flooded when an embankment burst during the torrential downpour.

Fire rescue workers carry to safety a calf that had been trapped in a barn during flash flooding in Daejeon’s Jeongbaengi Village due to heavy rain early on July 10, 2024. (Yonhap)

“It was raining so hard [early on Wednesday morning] that I couldn’t get any sleep that night. When I went outside, I saw the road was a raging torrent and totally impassable. I got a phone call from my sister-in-law, who said everybody else had been evacuated [from the flash flood] but that she couldn’t reach my mother, so I went [to where she lives],” Kim said.

“When the embankment burst, water flooded the neighborhood. It was shocking to see rainwater surging like waves in the Pacific Ocean,” said Kim, who lives in downtown Daejeon.

“I didn’t see anybody, but I could hear someone calling for help. The waves were so strong I had to swim [into the neighborhood], where I entered a neighbor’s house,” Kim said, setting the scene for the rescue.

“The neighbor lady was up to her neck in water, so I helped her onto the roof and then went for my mother. She was clinging to one of the pillars beneath the eaves, with only her head above the water,” Kim said, with tears falling from his eyes.

Jeongbaengi Village in Daejeon was waterlogged following heavy rains that led to flash flooding there on the morning of July 10, 2024. (Yonhap)

When Kim got ready to rescue his mother, she reportedly told him to stay away, afraid he would endanger himself.

“When I moved toward her, my mother said, ‘Don’t come any closer! You’ll get yourself killed,’” he recalled.

He managed to reach his mother by moving along the fence, but by that point, he was too weak to lift her to the rooftop.

“A couch came floating by, so I hoisted her onto the sofa and from there managed to help her onto the roof. The neighbor lady [who was rescued first] kept losing her footing, so I shouted at her to hold on. That’s when the rescue boat arrived,” Kim said.

Kim said that within 10 minutes or so, the waters rose so high they would have covered his mother’s head if she’d stayed there under the eaves.

“If I’d come just 10 minutes later, she would have died,” Kim said, describing the close call.

According to the Korea Meteorological Association, Daejeon’s Jeongnim neighborhood received a total of 129 mm (5 inches) of rainfall from 5 pm on Tuesday to 5 am on Wednesday. As torrential rain continued to fall on Jeongbaengi Village overnight, most of the residents took refuge at Giseong General Welfare Center, in Daejeon’s Seo District, while those unable to evacuate were rescued by boats from the fire department.

By Kim Yoon-ju, staff reporter

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