Live from Andong City: Wildfires rage across southern S. Korea, death toll at over 20

Wildfires that have pierced through South Korea's southeastern area for the past week are still burning.

We head over to one of the hardest hit areas, Andong, with our Lee Eun-hee standing by.

Eun-hee, how are things looking as of this morning?

Yes, Dami, I'm in Andong City in Gyeongsangbuk-do Province.

Firefighting efforts resumed at around 6:30 AM this morning with a total of over 4-thousand-500 personnel and nearly 80 helicopters deployed or set to be deployed to the scene.

I'm currently in a village that has been severely impacted by the wildfire, with small fires still burning and destroyed houses nearby.

The mountains behind me are barely visible through the smoke.

Multiple casualties have been reported in Gyeongsangbuk-do Province and Gyeongsangnam-do Province as people fled the fires, with the latest provisional estimate of at least 24 people dead and at least 26 injured as of Wednesday evening.

While many died while evacuating, yesterday, one elderly person was found to have been completely consumed by the fire.

The pilot of a firefighting helicopter was also killed in a crash in Uiseong-gun County on the same day.

The areas most heavily impacted are Uiseong-gun County and Andong City in Gyeongsangbuk-do Province, where the Korea Forest Service says an estimated 370 square kilometers of the region is on fire or affected by smoke.

As of Wednesday, over 23-thousand people are taking shelter in temporary facilities in the province.

Also, more than 200 structures, including homes, factories, and cultural heritage sites, have been damaged by the flames.

The wildfires started in Uiseong-gun County on Saturday and continue to spread to northeastern cities and counties in the province due to strong winds, including the counties of Yeongdeok, Yeongyang, Cheongsong, and here in Andong.

Eun-hee, this is when we really need that rain to put out the fire

And thankfully, some rain is in the forecast?

Yes Dami, we're eagerly awaiting the rain forecast from this morning, but the expected amount is small, so it's uncertain whether it will help extinguish the fire.

A light rain of around 5mm is expected in Gyeongsangbuk-do Province, where a dry weather advisory remains in effect.

Also, in Gyeongsangnam-do Province, rain of 5 to 20mm is expected, and light rain is forecast to begin around noon in the counties of Sancheong and Hadong, where wildfires have been raging for seven days.

Over there, over 1-thousand 5-hundred residents were relocated to shelters as of Wednesday evening.

Overall, in the provinces of Gyeongsangbuk-do and Gyeongsangnam-do, the overnight fire containment progress is still being calculated and is expected to be updated throughout the day.

That's all I have for you, Dami.

All right Eun-hee thank you for that report.

That was our Lee Eun-hee reporting live from Andong in Gyeongsangbuk-do Province.