The government has begun safety inspections of disaster-prone facilities ahead of the monsoon season's heavy rainfall.
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy confirmed the electrical safety management status of a rainwater pumping station located in Yangcheon District, Seoul, on the 23rd. A ministry official explained that this on-site inspection was conducted to ensure that facilities at risk of flooding during heavy rainfall have adequate preparedness.
Starting today until September 23, the ministry will operate a special safety inspection period for the summer. Lee Ho-hyun, head of the Energy Policy Office at the ministry, said, “Due to recent climate change, natural disasters such as heavy summer rainfall and typhoons have become more frequent and intense,” and added, “We will strengthen inspections of disaster-prone facilities susceptible to lowland flooding and landslides to prevent safety accidents.”
The Ministry of Environment, the agency responsible for water resources management, also recently announced flood measures for the summer. From this year, the ministry will implement a system that alerts via safety notifications or vehicle navigation when flood risks are detected at national stream level observation sites.
Plans are in place to operate more than 1,000 artificial intelligence (AI) closed-circuit television (CCTV) systems that can automatically identify and alert people and vehicles near rivers.
By regulating the water level of multipurpose dams, the flood control capacity will be secured at about 10% more than the previous year. The ministry will increase the discharge amounts of 20 multipurpose dams nationwide before the flood season, securing a total flood control capacity of 6.81 billion cubic meters, which is 563 million tons more than the capacity secured by the government before last year's flood season.