Go to contents

7 Dead-Missing due to floods in Kangwon

Posted July. 24, 2001 11:30,   

한국어

A record of 300 mm rain flooded the Youngseo area of Kangwon in the early morning of July 23. The flood is responsible for 7 people to be dead or missing, including a family of 4 members, who were swept during their sleep. In addition, the fallen rocks and swept roads blocked the traffic in many places.

Casualties: Around 2:20 AM, Park, Kieman (61) and 4 other houses in Hongchun-Gun, Kangwon, were swept by flood. This caused a family of 4 [Cho, Youngim (54, his wife), Chungok (27, daughter) who was visiting, Choi, Haewon (32, son-in-law; Moonkyung, Kyungbuk), Choi, Yoonjung (1, granddaughter-in-law)] and Lim, Yeonok (27, Female), his neighbor to be missing.

Park was swept 20 meters but was rescued by the 119 Rescue team, dispatched at the scene. This area has 12 families near the bank of the river, where they experienced 70 mm rain per hour.

In addition, Kim, Jinhong (53, I-chon Kyunggi), who is a beekeeper, died after swept near Ohmi Hill along Route 31 from Hongchun to Inche around 6:00 AM. Shin, Okran (67, Female) was missing due to a flooded river in Hwingsung around 11:15 AM.

House and Road damages: Around 1:50 AM, Han, Myungcheol (81)`s house was damaged due to the mudslide from a hill in the backyard. The building was destroyed and his cattle were buried in the mud. A gas station, located along the Route 44 from Hongchun to Inche, was swept by the flooded river.

As for the fallen rocks, a mass of about 2,000 ton rock fell near Karak Hill tunnel of Route 56 from Choonchun to Hongchun around 3:30 AM, about 200 tons on Route 5 from Choonchun to Wonju around 8:00 AM, and about 200 tons along Ohmi Hill of Route 31 from Hongchun to Inche. Overall, 19 roads were swept in the areas of Hongchun, Inche, and Hwingsung and 9 roads are under controlled access now.

Damage near Seoul: Due to the overnight rain, a lot of commuters suffered. The sunken and flooded roads hindered them from going to their works.

According to Seoul Disaster Prevention and Countermeasures Headquarters and National Police Agency, around 11:20 PM on July 22, there was a sunken hole in the first lane of the road near the traffic light of Jeoksun-Dong rotary in Jongro Seoul , whose diameter is 60 cm and depth is about 50 cm. This caused the lane to be restricted.

The Jam-Su Bridge of Han River was blocked for pedestrian walk as of 10:00 AM because the height of the river increased and it was fully closed even for cars around 11:10 AM.



Choi Chang-Soon cschoi@donga.com