Flood victims in Mundok, North Korea

In This Story:

• Images from the flood

MUNDOK, North Korea (CNN) -- North Korea's usually ultra- secretive government has allowed a CNN team to visit Mundok, one of many North Korean towns ravaged by four straight years of floods, droughts and other natural disasters.

CNN's Hong Kong Bureau Chief Mike Chinoy talked with people in Mundok, which was hit with 9 inches (22.8 cm) of rain in just over an hour, triggering a flash flood that washed away more than 270 homes. More than a week after the flood, residents were still digging out.

Mundok resident Kim Myong Hi said she was visiting friends when the downpour began. When she returned, there was nothing left. "There were dead farm animals floating in the water," she said. "Soldiers were searching for victims. We still haven't found my husband's body." she said.

Floods symbolize bigger problems

North Korea's socialist economy has been virtually crippled by a series of natural disasters in the past few years. All over the country, factories are silent, and roads and bridges are in a shambles. There are virtually no machines, and almost every kind of labor has to be done by hand.

A North Korean man carries his bike past a collapsed bridge

But the biggest problem is the lack of food. Floods like the one in Mundok, a town 28.5 miles (46 km) north of Pyongyang, have left rice paddies and other crops covered with mud and water, making things worse for those who already have too little to eat. No one knows how many North Koreans already have died from malnutrition and related diseases like tuberculosis, pneumonia and diarrhea.

Some question Pyongyang's motives

The government's decision to allow CNN to visit Mundok was seen as an attempt to drum up more support for international aid. But diplomats and relief workers are suspicious about the regime's calls for help, given recent expenditures like last week's massive "national day" celebration and the launch last month of a rocket Pyongyang claims was carrying a satellite.