South Korea rainstorm An underground driveway flooded in 5 minutes 14 people died! Local residents: The temporary dam at the breach is made of sand, and the weather | lane | dam

On the morning of July 18th, the Central Disaster Safety Countermeasure Headquarters of South Korea announced that the continuous heavy rainfall since the 9th has resulted in 41 deaths, 9 missing, and 34 injured. 10765 people have been temporarily evacuated nationwide, and more than 1000 facilities have been damaged. The number of deceased and missing persons has reached its highest level since 2011. However, many South Korean media outlets have pointed out that the heavy losses caused by this "natural disaster" were "predictable man-made disasters". South Korean President Yoon Seok yeol also called for a "complete reform" of South Korea's response to extreme weather on the 17th.

A South Korean media analysis pointed out that the Wusong underground lane flooding accident, which resulted in 14 deaths, was a "man-made disaster" caused by inadequate embankment management and vehicle control in advance.

Underground lane tops down in 5 minutes, 14 people die

Residents of Wusong: The temporary embankment piled up with sand has been washed down

At around 8:45 am on July 15th, the second underground lane in Wusongyi, Xingde District, Cheongju City, Chungcheongbuk do, South Korea was flooded. At around 8:40 am at that time, the Meihu River, which was over 300 meters away from the lane, broke its embankment and then the water flowed into the underground lane. It is reported that this underground lane has four round-trip lanes, with a total length of 430 meters and a height of 4.5 meters. According to South Korean media reports cited by the Global Times, the underground lane can usually pass within 30 seconds. When the river floods, the lane is flooded to the top in less than 5 minutes. According to police speculation, a total of 15 cars were submerged in water, and within just 3 minutes, 60000 tons of water were poured into the lane.

Local residents believe that the unstable Meihu River embankment is a significant cause of the accident. Zhang Changqiao, the leader of Gongping 1 li Qianli, said in an interview with the media that although there was a rainstorm forecast, there was no suitable preparatory dam built, which led to the accident. "I have lived here for a lifetime, and it is the first time that the Meihu River dam has breached," he said.

Zhang Changqiao said that at 7:40 am that day, he saw construction workers driving excavators on site digging sand to raise the temporary dam. The construction of the temporary embankment began at 4am on the same day, and according to him, he also heard the construction worker protest to the on-site supervision personnel, stating that the embankment made in this way cannot withstand floods. It was not the flood control sandbags that were ultimately washed away by the river, but the temporary embankments made of sand.

The sudden arrival of the river

The drainage pump didn't start in time

According to South Korean media reports on the 17th, although the accident was caused by a "natural disaster", it was a "man-made disaster" that could be prevented in advance. Because prior to the accident, at least two warnings were received from flood control stations and residents, but the relevant departments did not implement traffic control measures on the underground lanes.

South Korean media reported that relevant departments did not take timely traffic control measures on underground lanes

South Korean media reported that at around 4:10 am on the 15th, the Jinjiang Flood Control Office responsible for managing the Meihu River issued a flood warning to the Meihu River Bridge. At 6:31 am, the flood level at Meihu River Bridge had reached 9.29 meters, and the Jinjiang Flood Control Center once again issued an alarm to Xingde District, informing residents that "evacuation and traffic control need to be organized.". At 6:39 am, the Xingde District Department conveyed the alert content to the River and Safety Policy Departments of the Qingzhou City Department and requested assistance. Regarding this, a person from Qingzhou City stated, "The road is managed by the Zhongqing North Road Department and is not within the jurisdiction of the city department."

As the management entity of the underground lane, Zhongqing North Road acknowledged its responsibility, but stated that the situation it faced at the time was "not controllable.". A relevant person said, "At 8:35 am on the day of the accident, we confirmed that someone had passed through the underground lane. After the riverbank broke, the river water flowing into the lane submerged the underground lane within 2-3 minutes, so we were unable to prevent the accident from happening."

It is reported that in South Korea, road flooding is classified into three hazard levels. Level 1 is "rainstorm special alarm", level 2 is "heavy rain alert", and level 3 is "heavy rain alarm". Once level 3 is reached, centralized management should be implemented. At the time of the accident, a level 3 alarm was issued to the second underground lane of Gongping in the Qingzhou area. Therefore, at that time, the Zhongqing North Road Management Institute was using immersion depth sensors to monitor the condition of the lane.

Jiang Zhenggen, the head of the road department in Zhongqing North Road, said, "When the lowest point is flooded to a depth of 50 centimeters, we will cooperate with the police to carry out road control. At the time of the accident, it only took 2 to 3 minutes to fill the lane, and there was no response during this time."

The sudden flooding caused the drainage pump in the underground lane to not start. There are 4 drainage pumps in the lane. When the 4 drainage pumps operate at the same time, 12 tons of water can be discharged within one minute, even if the rainstorm is 83 mm per hour.

Jiang Zhenggen stated that if water suddenly fills up, even if the drainage pump starts, more water will flow in, making it difficult to prevent flooding. There are two distribution boards inside the underground lane that deliver electricity to the drainage pump, and two on the outside. The external distribution panel was designed to start even if the underground lane was flooded, but when the accident occurred, the external distribution panel was also flooded, so the drainage pump could not be started.

In response, the South Korean police stated that they plan to establish a special task force to jointly conduct on-site investigations with the National Institute of Scientific Research in South Korea, and hold relevant departments responsible for road and embankment management accountable.

On July 16th, Yin Xiyue criticized some areas for failing to advance travel restrictions and control, emphasizing that the primary principle of disaster relief is to control high-risk areas and take early safety measures.