Goeje City in South Gyeongsang Province has experienced severe flooding, river overflow, and damage to water and power facilities due to record rainfall. The government is focusing on emergency recovery and preventing future incidents.
The Ministry of Climate, Energy, and Environment reported that First Vice Minister Kim Han-seung visited Goeje City on August 21 to inspect the damage at rivers, public sewage treatment facilities, and broken water pipes.
From August 15 to 19, Goeje City received a total of 968.1 mm of rain. On August 17 alone, 509.9 mm fell within six hours, with 124.5 mm in just one hour.
This led to flooding and embankment failures at 27 locations across 11 rivers, including the Gohyeon Stream. The public sewage treatment facility in Goeje was temporarily shut down due to flooding, and water supply facilities also suffered damage from broken pipes and inundated pumping stations.
Power outages occurred due to fallen trees and landslides damaging transmission and distribution facilities. Affected areas included 4,541 households across 11 regions. However, the Ministry of Climate and Korea Electric Power Corporation quickly mobilized to restore power within two days of the outages.
The ministry utilized a 'Comprehensive Water Disaster Situation Room' to monitor flood conditions and identify areas likely to experience power outages, allowing for preemptive deployment of recovery personnel and equipment.
The public sewage treatment facility in Goeje remains non-operational due to flooding, with incoming wastewater undergoing temporary treatment before being released. Efforts are underway to stabilize microorganisms to resume normal operations.
In the Haksan-ri area of Dundeok-myeon, where road damage has led to broken water pipes, some water supply was interrupted. The ministry provided emergency water trucks and bottled water, and water supply has since resumed.
While power and water supply have mostly returned to normal, the embankments and sewage treatment facilities require structural improvements to prevent future incidents. The ministry's inspection focused on both short-term recovery of essential services and long-term reinforcement of disaster prevention facilities.
Vice Minister Kim visited the Gohyeon and Dundeok streams to assess the damage and received recovery plans from Goeje City officials. He urged local governments to expedite emergency recovery efforts to prevent further damage from additional rainfall and to ensure that permanent recovery measures are implemented without delay.
“We will do our utmost to help residents return to their daily lives as soon as possible,” Vice Minister Kim said, adding that all available resources will be utilized to restore essential facilities such as rivers, water supply, and power.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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