The Ministry of Environment announced that it held an emergency situation assessment meeting on the morning of the 20th at the Han River Flood Control Center in Seocho District, Seoul, to check the damage from the heavy rain and the recovery plans.
This meeting was held due to the human and property damage caused by the heavy rain that started on the 16th nationwide. Representatives from related agencies, including watershed environmental offices under the Ministry of Environment, the flood control center, and the Korea Water Resources Corporation (K-water), participated in the meeting to discuss the damage status and recovery plans of national rivers and environmental facilities across the country.
The Ministry of Environment provided information on 142 flood warnings and 1,380 flood reports by 10 a.m. that day. In particular, at 87 locations where flooding of rivers was anticipated, the flood control center chief directly communicated with local government officials via telephone to ensure that evacuations and traffic control were carried out.
At the meeting, the Ministry of Environment reviewed 49 confirmed cases of damage to rivers and environmental facilities under its jurisdiction. So far, 27 damage cases have been addressed, while actions for the remaining 22 cases are being taken for emergency restoration, among which 4 cases involve damage to national rivers due to levee breaches, for which emergency restoration was conducted through methods such as sandbagging.
The government plans to focus all its efforts on the prompt recovery and support for disaster waste management due to flooding, permanent restoration of river and environmental facilities, and provision of drinking water to affected local governments.
Vice Minister Geum Han-seung said, “We will do our best to recover from the damage caused by this heavy rain, and we will analyze flood response performance and cases to ensure improvement in future response systems.”