Aftermath of record level of torrential rain in Seoul
Thu, August 11, 2022
By Heejung Jung and Soo-hyang Choi
SEOUL (Reuters) - The heaviest rain in Seoul in 115 years has spurred the South Korean capital to revive a $1.15 billion plan to improve drainage after floods exposed how even the affluent Gangnam district is vulnerable to climate change-driven extreme weather.
Experts say the city's capacity to drain water is far behind what's needed to handle a deluge like the one suffered this week. That has disasterous implications for low-lying areas like Gangnam, as these bouts of extreme weather are becoming increasingly common.
This week's torrential rain killed at least 11 people across the northern part of the country, as of Thursday morning. The downpour, which began on Monday and shifted southwards on Wednesday, knocked out power, caused landslides and flooded roads and subways.
Monetary estimates of the damage were still being compiled.
In the wake of the downpour, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon announced on Wednesday the city will spend 1.5 trillion won ($1.15 billion) in the next decade to build six massive underground tunnels to store and release rainwater to prevent flooding.
"The damage from this record rainfall shows that there are limits with short-term water control measures when unusual weather conditions due to global warming have become common," Mayor Oh said, vowing to establish a city-wide system capable of handling 100 mm (3.94 inches) rainfall an hour from the current 95 mm.
The city's development meant increased pavement and impermeable surfaces, leading to higher runoff and more flooding. More than 50% of Seoul's land areas are impermeable, with the figure much higher in the affluent Gangnam district with wide boulevards and office buildings, experts said.
"It's always a see-saw game between cost and safety," said Moon Young-il, a professor of civil engineering at University of Seoul. "We need to find a balance point and 100 mm seems reasonable enough."
Seoul had lacked any detailed plan for water control as it grew from a city of 2 to 3 million people in the 1960s to one with over 10 million by the 1990s, Moon said.
The underground tunnels were originally proposed in 2011 after heavy rains and landslides killed 16 people, many of them in Gangnam. But the plan was put on hold amid decreased precipitation and budget issues in the following years.
The Seoul city also plans to ban basement or lower ground apartments after three family members including a woman with developmental disabilities drowned in their home on Monday.
The calamitous wet weather prompted President Yoon Suk-yeol to hold a series of meetings with officials this week, to find fundamental ways to improve South Korea's preparedness against similar climate change-induced disasters.
Warmer weather increases moisture levels in the air, leading to more intense rainfall. So while there has been little change in the annual precipitation over the past four decades, the frequency of heavy rains in Seoul has increased by 27% since the 2000s, according to a 2021 report by the Seoul Institute.
"It was indeed an extreme weather. But we can no longer call this kind of weather event unusual," President Yoon told a meeting on Wednesday. "The largest, highest record can be broken at any time."
($1 = 1,302.2400 won)
(Reporting by Heejung Jung, Minwoo Park and Soo-hyang Choi; Editing by Josh Smith and Simon Cameron-Moore)
Thu, August 11, 2022
By Heejung Jung and Soo-hyang Choi
SEOUL (Reuters) - The heaviest rain in Seoul in 115 years has spurred the South Korean capital to revive a $1.15 billion plan to improve drainage after floods exposed how even the affluent Gangnam district is vulnerable to climate change-driven extreme weather.
Experts say the city's capacity to drain water is far behind what's needed to handle a deluge like the one suffered this week. That has disasterous implications for low-lying areas like Gangnam, as these bouts of extreme weather are becoming increasingly common.
This week's torrential rain killed at least 11 people across the northern part of the country, as of Thursday morning. The downpour, which began on Monday and shifted southwards on Wednesday, knocked out power, caused landslides and flooded roads and subways.
Monetary estimates of the damage were still being compiled.
In the wake of the downpour, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon announced on Wednesday the city will spend 1.5 trillion won ($1.15 billion) in the next decade to build six massive underground tunnels to store and release rainwater to prevent flooding.
"The damage from this record rainfall shows that there are limits with short-term water control measures when unusual weather conditions due to global warming have become common," Mayor Oh said, vowing to establish a city-wide system capable of handling 100 mm (3.94 inches) rainfall an hour from the current 95 mm.
The city's development meant increased pavement and impermeable surfaces, leading to higher runoff and more flooding. More than 50% of Seoul's land areas are impermeable, with the figure much higher in the affluent Gangnam district with wide boulevards and office buildings, experts said.
"It's always a see-saw game between cost and safety," said Moon Young-il, a professor of civil engineering at University of Seoul. "We need to find a balance point and 100 mm seems reasonable enough."
Seoul had lacked any detailed plan for water control as it grew from a city of 2 to 3 million people in the 1960s to one with over 10 million by the 1990s, Moon said.
The underground tunnels were originally proposed in 2011 after heavy rains and landslides killed 16 people, many of them in Gangnam. But the plan was put on hold amid decreased precipitation and budget issues in the following years.
The Seoul city also plans to ban basement or lower ground apartments after three family members including a woman with developmental disabilities drowned in their home on Monday.
The calamitous wet weather prompted President Yoon Suk-yeol to hold a series of meetings with officials this week, to find fundamental ways to improve South Korea's preparedness against similar climate change-induced disasters.
Warmer weather increases moisture levels in the air, leading to more intense rainfall. So while there has been little change in the annual precipitation over the past four decades, the frequency of heavy rains in Seoul has increased by 27% since the 2000s, according to a 2021 report by the Seoul Institute.
"It was indeed an extreme weather. But we can no longer call this kind of weather event unusual," President Yoon told a meeting on Wednesday. "The largest, highest record can be broken at any time."
($1 = 1,302.2400 won)
(Reporting by Heejung Jung, Minwoo Park and Soo-hyang Choi; Editing by Josh Smith and Simon Cameron-Moore)
Seoul’s Worst Storm in a Century Kills Nine, Destroys Homes
\
Jeong-Ho Lee and Sangmi Cha
Wed, August 10, 2022
(Bloomberg) -- South Korean repair crews took advantage of a lull in torrential rainfall to drain flooded train stations and fix damages after one of the worst storms in over a century hit Seoul, killing at least nine people including two Chinese nationals.
President Yoon Suk Yeol apologized to the nation Wednesday for “inconveniences” caused by rainfall that the weather agency said was some of the heaviest in at least 115 years. A day earlier, he asked authorities to recalibrate disaster management plans by taking into account the effects of global warming.
“We can’t just keep calling these extreme weather situations unusual,” he said in a meeting.
https://t.co/C8rufoeMsc pic.twitter.com/8lgh9luUOO
— Bloomberg Quicktake (@Quicktake) August 10, 2022
The storm that started Monday has dumped 525 millimeters (20.7 inches) of rain in parts of Seoul, the Meteorological Agency said. While there were clear skies in the capital Wednesday, it was forecasting up to another 80 millimeters of rainfall through Thursday.
The flooding, which turned Seoul streets into rivers and parking lots into ponds, has provided one of the biggest domestic challenges for Yoon since he took office in May. He has seen his support drop to some of the lowest levels of any of the country’s presidents at the same point of their term in office due to a series of policy stumbles.
It also exposed vulnerabilities in the South Korean capital to a severe precipitation events that data from climate scientists indicates have become more prevalent due to global warming.
At least 570 people lost their homes and 2,670 buildings were flooded, the interior ministry said. The storm also flooded train tracks and sent cascades of water into several subway stations, although transport authorities were able to restore rail services. Workers were also repairing severed power lines, which had caused blackouts.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry confirmed that two Chinese nationals were among the dead. One died in a landslide and another from electrocution due to the flood, according to China News Service.
Other victims included a family of three who drowned as their basement apartment filled with water. Yoon visited the apartment on Tuesday. Authorities were also searching for a 15-year-old girl who was swept away in raging waters while she made her way home Tuesday.
Yoon has been put on the defensive about his response so far to the flooding. An opposition lawmaker coined a term that soon made its way to social media: “phone-trol tower,” a play on words for Yoon issuing commands by phone from his home instead of relocating to a government control tower.
“Presidential office” and “natural disaster” were trending on Twitter in South Korea on Wednesday with many people criticizing Yoon’s decision to move the presidential office away from the long-used residence and administrative facility known as the Blue House, which has operational centers for crisis management.
The total cost of the storm is not yet known. Around 7,678 car owners claimed for damages due to flooded or damaged vehicles, with the total compensation estimated to be around 97.76 billion won ($74.6 million) according to General Insurance Association of Korea, an association of insurers including Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance and Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance.
(Updates with deaths of Chinese.)
\
Jeong-Ho Lee and Sangmi Cha
Wed, August 10, 2022
(Bloomberg) -- South Korean repair crews took advantage of a lull in torrential rainfall to drain flooded train stations and fix damages after one of the worst storms in over a century hit Seoul, killing at least nine people including two Chinese nationals.
President Yoon Suk Yeol apologized to the nation Wednesday for “inconveniences” caused by rainfall that the weather agency said was some of the heaviest in at least 115 years. A day earlier, he asked authorities to recalibrate disaster management plans by taking into account the effects of global warming.
“We can’t just keep calling these extreme weather situations unusual,” he said in a meeting.
https://t.co/C8rufoeMsc pic.twitter.com/8lgh9luUOO
— Bloomberg Quicktake (@Quicktake) August 10, 2022
The storm that started Monday has dumped 525 millimeters (20.7 inches) of rain in parts of Seoul, the Meteorological Agency said. While there were clear skies in the capital Wednesday, it was forecasting up to another 80 millimeters of rainfall through Thursday.
The flooding, which turned Seoul streets into rivers and parking lots into ponds, has provided one of the biggest domestic challenges for Yoon since he took office in May. He has seen his support drop to some of the lowest levels of any of the country’s presidents at the same point of their term in office due to a series of policy stumbles.
It also exposed vulnerabilities in the South Korean capital to a severe precipitation events that data from climate scientists indicates have become more prevalent due to global warming.
At least 570 people lost their homes and 2,670 buildings were flooded, the interior ministry said. The storm also flooded train tracks and sent cascades of water into several subway stations, although transport authorities were able to restore rail services. Workers were also repairing severed power lines, which had caused blackouts.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry confirmed that two Chinese nationals were among the dead. One died in a landslide and another from electrocution due to the flood, according to China News Service.
Other victims included a family of three who drowned as their basement apartment filled with water. Yoon visited the apartment on Tuesday. Authorities were also searching for a 15-year-old girl who was swept away in raging waters while she made her way home Tuesday.
Yoon has been put on the defensive about his response so far to the flooding. An opposition lawmaker coined a term that soon made its way to social media: “phone-trol tower,” a play on words for Yoon issuing commands by phone from his home instead of relocating to a government control tower.
“Presidential office” and “natural disaster” were trending on Twitter in South Korea on Wednesday with many people criticizing Yoon’s decision to move the presidential office away from the long-used residence and administrative facility known as the Blue House, which has operational centers for crisis management.
The total cost of the storm is not yet known. Around 7,678 car owners claimed for damages due to flooded or damaged vehicles, with the total compensation estimated to be around 97.76 billion won ($74.6 million) according to General Insurance Association of Korea, an association of insurers including Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance and Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance.
(Updates with deaths of Chinese.)
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