At 9:30 a.m. on the 28th, the 'Gyeonggi-do Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters Emergency Level 3' was issued for 15 areas including Ansan and Siheung in Gyeonggi-do.
Gyeonggi-do announced that at 9:10 a.m. on the same day, due to the issuance of a heavy snow warning in the affected areas, the emergency level of the Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters was abruptly raised from Level 1 to Level 3.
The areas under the heavy snow warning include Pyeongtaek, Anseong, Icheon, Gwangju, Uiwang, Yongin, Ansan, Siheung, Suwon, Seongnam, Anyang, Osan, Gunpo, Hwaseong, and Yeoju.
This Emergency Level 3 is the first in two months since the heavy snowfall on November 26 last year.
At Emergency Level 3, the head of the situation management general team is elevated from the head of the natural disaster countermeasures team to the director of the natural disaster division, and departments related to livestock, housing, forestry, and medical services are added to the workforce, with 37 personnel responding to the heavy snow situation.
Gyeonggi-do is strengthening snow removal operations on major roads to ensure smooth traffic flow for holiday travelers during the Lunar New Year, and through an emergency communication system with related agencies (fire department and police), it is promoting preemptive control and evacuation in case of concerns about collapse of snow-vulnerable facilities.
Also, since there were many safety accidents during snow removal operations in the heavy snowfall last November, snow removal work on roofs and similar areas will be conducted during the daytime with at least two-person teams ensuring safety, and nighttime snow removal and excessive work such as climbing onto roofs are prohibited.
Kim Seong-jung, the First Deputy Governor of Gyeonggi-do, visited the Disaster and Safety Situation Room in the morning to receive reports on the heavy snow response situation and weather forecast. He emphasized prior evacuation guidance and recommendations for residents of residential vinyl greenhouses in counties and cities with snowfall exceeding 20cm, rapid evacuation in case of collapse concerns, and ordered the full mobilization of the province’s disaster response capabilities to respond to snow removal and prevent safety accidents.
Meanwhile, in Gyeonggi-do, the Baeti-ro (Provincial Road No. 325) section from Seowoon Mountain Natural Recreation Forest in Anseong City to Baetigogae, approximately 1.6 km long, and the approximately 3.3 km section from the start of the hill on Jinan-ro to Okjeonggogae (Provincial Road No. 302) are currently closed. Gyeonggi-do expects the closures to continue until the morning of the 29th.
Additionally, at around 9:03 p.m. on the 27th, a 12-vehicle pileup occurred on the Iksan-Pyeongtaek Expressway (towards Buyeo) in Pyeongtaek City due to slippery snowy roads, resulting in two minor injuries.
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