Livestock flee to safety amid heavy flooding in S. Korea

폭우에 동물들도 속수무책This year's monsoon season has battered the country with a number of floods and landslides not only threatening the lives of people but livestock too.Animals in the countryside have been seen running and even swimming for their lives, frantically searching for shelter.Kim Cheong-ah has more.Heavy rain has almost completely submerged the southwestern town of Gurye in Jeollanam-do Province, including farmlands.Water levels have risen to over six-feet high, above the average height of an adult male.A cow, with its head barely above water, is swimming for its life to try and get to land. Another is struggling to stay afloat among all the debris.Dozens of cows surprised locals as they poured onto roads, frantically running to safety from the heavy rain.Several were even spotted on the second floor of a community center as they sought refuge from the rapidly increasing water levels.There were similar scenes at farmlands all across Jeollanam-do Province with cows stranded on rooftops. Meanwhile, inthe populous city of Gwangju, an anxious dog clings onto a firefighter as he swims across an area that has been severely flooded.Gyeongsangnam-do Province is another area that has been hit hard.In the town of Hapcheon, over 100 cows on the verge of drowning were rescued from a farm.The cows, each weighing around 400 kilograms and worth around seven-thousand U.S. dollars each, had struggled in the water for nearly 24 hours.Unfortunately, some 20 cows died of dehydration while trying to tread water.But residents and firefighters working in groups of three were able to help steer some to safety one by one.With record levels of rainfall, farmers all across South Korea have been hit with huge financial losses due to damage to property.Kim Cheong-ah, Arirang News.