Gyeonggi Province activated Level 1 of its disaster and safety response headquarters Tuesday to prepare for heavy rainfall. It marks the first time an emergency response of Level 1 or higher has been declared this summer.
The province issued the Level 1 emergency alert as of 5 a.m. that day, entering a rain response system together with the 31 cities and counties within the province. According to the Korea Meteorological Administration, the province is expected to receive up to 150 millimeters or more of rain through Wednesday. Heavy rain of 20 to 50 millimeters per hour is forecast in particular during Tuesday's morning commute and from Tuesday night through Wednesday.
Under the Level 1 alert, the province designated the head of its natural disaster response team as the general situation management chief. A total of 35 officials entered emergency duty, including 23 officials from flood-related departments such as the Forest and Green Space Division, the Road Safety Division and the River Division, as well as 12 personnel from the internal situation rooms of major departments. They will inspect rainfall conditions by city and county and take charge of assessing on-site conditions and providing support in the event of damage.
The province will also strengthen preemptive controls over flood-prone areas such as riverside walkways and underpasses. If a weather advisory takes effect or rainfall becomes concentrated, the province plans to restrict access to riverside walkways early and expand monitoring activities. If signs of flooding appear in underground parking lots and semi-basement homes, controls and evacuation measures will be implemented immediately.
Disaster-vulnerable facilities such as rain gutters, reservoirs, landslide-prone areas and steep slopes will also be intensively inspected together with the cities and counties. Earlier, on Monday afternoon, the province held an emergency countermeasures meeting of the province and its cities and counties, chaired by First Vice Governor for Administration Kim Sung-jung, to discuss the operation of the disaster and safety response headquarters, securing response personnel at the eup, myeon and dong levels, and preemptive control measures for areas at risk of casualties.
"This rain is expected to continue until Friday morning," said Kim Kyu-sik, head of the Gyeonggi Province Safety Management Office. "Please check weather information frequently and refrain from entering flood-prone areas such as riverside walkways and underpasses during heavy rainfall."
