Recent rains in North Korea flood thousands of houses, vast farmland

The recent heavy rains in northwestern North Korea flooded thousands of houses and a vast extent of farmland and left many residents homeless and living in makeshift tents, North Korea's state media reported Wednesday.

North Korea earlier said more than 5,000 people stranded in Sinuiju city and Uiju town were rescued by airlift and other evacuation work after Saturday's rains caused a river on the Chinese border to swell. But it hadn't mentioned any specific damage, or said if there were any casualties.

North Korea is prone to flooding from heavy summer rains because of poor drainage, deforestation and dilapidated infrastructure.

The official Korean Central News Agency said Wednesday that about 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.

It said about 150 people in nearby Jagang province had also been isolated due to a separate river flooding there, but they were all ...