Seongdong-gu Launches Full-Scale Flood and Wind Damage Prevention Measures Despite Rain and Wind

Operation of Flood and Wind Disaster Safety Countermeasures Headquarters for Rapid and Systematic Response System to Prepare for Summer Heavy Rain... Emergency Duty, Flood Control, and Preliminary Inspection of River Facilities Completed Over 6 Stages by 13 Task Forces for 5 Months from May 15

Seongdong-gu Panorama

Seongdong-gu, Seoul (Mayor Jung Won-oh) announced that starting from May 15, the "Flood and Wind Disaster Safety Countermeasures Headquarters" will operate 24 hours a day to actively respond to situations.

Recently, abnormal climate phenomena have been occurring frequently, and with this summer's average temperature expected to be higher than usual and heavy rainfall anticipated due to weather anomalies, Seongdong-gu plans to strengthen its preparedness against flood and wind disasters.

Seongdong-gu will operate the Flood and Wind Disaster Safety Countermeasures Headquarters for a total of five months from the opening ceremony on May 14 until October 15. The headquarters is composed of 13 task forces, including the Situation Management General Team, Traffic Countermeasures Team, and Search, Rescue, and First Aid Team, which can respond organically to various disaster situations. Depending on weather (preliminary) warnings, a six-level emergency duty system will be activated: normal, preliminary reinforcement, reinforcement, and emergency levels 1 to 3 (heavy rain/typhoon advisory, heavy rain/typhoon warning, flood warning).

Additionally, to prevent flooding damage during heavy rain, support is being provided for the installation of flood prevention facilities in semi-basement houses. Currently, the installation rate of flood prevention facilities for priority management households in Seongdong-gu is 100%, the highest among the 25 autonomous districts of Seoul.

Other measures include ▲dredging of sewage and rainwater inlets ▲additional installation of disaster early warning facilities, CCTV, and other safety equipment ▲installation of manhole fall prevention facilities ▲operation of care officials and accompanying partners to support evacuation from semi-basement houses.

In particular, one care official is assigned to each of the 49 households eligible for semi-basement house evacuation support, and for 10 disaster-vulnerable households among them, an accompanying partner is additionally assigned to do their best to prevent casualties caused by flooding.

Prior to this, Seongdong-gu completed pre-inspections of flood control and river facilities between March and April in preparation for flood and wind disasters.

The inspection items included ▲inspection of flood control facilities and flood-prone areas ▲pre-inspection of water pumps ▲designation of management personnel for the 육갑문 (Yukgapmun) gate and test operation ▲test operation of rainwater pumping stations and drainage gates ▲purchase and deployment of flood control materials ▲inspection of sewage facilities at large construction sites in preparation for the rainy season ▲inspection of river early warning facilities and access control facilities.

Jung Won-oh, Mayor of Seongdong-gu, said, "Due to recent atmospheric instability causing heavy rainfall in a short period and frequent abnormal weather phenomena, it is important to respond quickly to flood and wind disasters," adding, "We will systematically operate the Flood and Wind Disaster Safety Countermeasures Headquarters to make Seongdong-gu safe from natural disasters."