Some 3,500 residents in Pyeongtaek City, 70 kilometers (45 miles) south of Seoul, took shelter in churches and schools as flood alerts were issued for low lying areas, officials of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said.

Farms, houses and roads were inundated in Pyeongtaek, where 29.4 centimeters (11.76 inches) of rain fell between early Thursday and mid-afternoon Friday.

In the eastern coastal province of Gangweon, more than 1,000 people on Friday fled their homes in Inje county and Pyeongchang county, both of which had already been hit hard by monsoon rains last week.

"But no casualties from the latest downpour have been reported so far," said Kim Seon-Tae, a spokesman for NEMA.

Heavy rain alerts have been in effect since Thursday for most of South Korea except for southern provinces. Weather forecasters are predicting that up to 15 centimeters (six inches) more rain will fall by early Saturday in Gangweon province, Seoul and its surrounding Gyeonggi province.

Seasonal monsoon rains have lashed South Korea for the past two weeks, fed by two recent typhoons in the region.

The rains over the period have left 31 people dead and 17 others missing, NEMA said, causing more than 1.3 billion dollars in damages mostly to homes, roads, briges and farmland.

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