Heavy Rain Expected Throughout Gyeonggi Province on 3rd...Province Declares Emergency Alert Level 1 from 7 p.m. on 3rd
[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Kim Gap-dong] As heavy rain is expected throughout Gyeonggi Province from the afternoon of the 3rd through the 4th, Gyeonggi Province will declare Emergency Alert Level 1 for its Disaster Safety Countermeasures Headquarters from 7 p.m. on the 3rd (Sunday), initiating full-scale response measures. Particularly, with this rain expected to fall more heavily in northern and eastern Gyeonggi, areas affected by heavy rain in July, concerns over damage are mounting.
Governor Kim Dong-yeon of Gyeonggi Province issued special instructions to each city and county on the 1st, stating, "With the ground weakened by heavy rain that fell on Gyeonggi Province on the 20th of last month, forecasts indicate additional heavy rain, raising concerns of further damage," and directed them to "comply with Gyeonggi Province's basic disaster response principles and respond thoroughly."
Through an official notice on the same day, Governor Kim requested △proactive situation assessment meetings led by vice executives of each organization to secure on-site response capacity including support systems for towns and villages △implementation of maintenance work and surveillance and inspections to prevent secondary damage from additional rainfall in areas affected by intensive downpours from July 16-20 △measures utilizing emergency disaster text messages, village broadcasts, and disaster alert systems to ensure safety of vacationing visitors △telephone check-ins with priority evacuation targets including semi-basement residents and residents in landslide-prone areas, and recommendations for advance evacuation △confirmation of underground underpasses through designated personnel and preemptive traffic control before hazardous situations occur.
Emergency Alert Level 1 operates with 35 personnel on duty: 23 civil servants from water and wind disaster-related departments including the Natural Disaster Countermeasures Team Leader serving as overall situation management director, the Forest and Green Space Division, Road Safety Division, and River Division, plus 12 personnel from self-operated situation rooms in major departments across each city and county to understand heavy rain conditions and support disaster response.
In addition, the province will include related departments such as the Architecture Policy Division, Apartment Housing Division, and Tourism Industry Division in this Emergency Alert Level 1 to ensure thorough response, taking into account significant damage to residences, camping sites, and other facilities during heavy rain from July 16-20.
Furthermore, the province has requested that cities and counties implement △advance welfare checks △enhanced surveillance activities △predeployment of water disaster prevention materials for the safety management of priority evacuation targets including the elderly and disabled residing in vulnerable areas and facilities during vulnerable time periods of concentrated rainfall (from night of 3rd to early morning of next day).
A provincial official stated, "As the summer vacation season is underway, those using camping sites, camping grounds, and valleys must conduct preemptive advance evacuation when special weather advisories such as heavy rain warnings are issued," and added, "When heavy rain falls, please actively cooperate with advance evacuation requests and on-site traffic control by city and county and town and village staff by evacuating immediately to safe locations."