Heavy Rain Damage in Gurye-gun, Losses Increasing Like a Snowball

As of 11 PM on the 10th, provisional damage estimated at 126.8 billion KRW

Water supply to start across all areas from the 11th, 2,000 volunteers and others begin recovery efforts

Kim Sun-ho, Gurye County Governor, proposes early declaration of special disaster zone and prior consultation on dam discharge

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yuk Miseok] On the 8th, Jeollanam-do Gurye-gun, which suffered record-breaking damage due to heavy rain, is conducting a full-scale damage survey of public facilities and private properties, and the scale of the damage is growing like a snowball.

Gurye-gun, Jeollanam-do announced that as of 11 p.m. on the 10th, the provisional damage amount is 126.8 billion won.

This is an increase of 70 billion won from the estimate at 7 p.m. on the 9th. Since the damage survey is being conducted in earnest and damage reports are continuously being received, the scale of the damage is expected to continue to increase.

Out of a total of 13,000 households in Gurye-gun, 1,165 households, accounting for 10%, reported flood damage, and 1,318 people became disaster victims. Farmland of 421 hectares was submerged, and 3,650 livestock were damaged. On the 5th, all 157 stores in the market were submerged under 2.5 meters of water. Gurye-gun estimated the minimum damage per store at an average of 30 million won.

Sixty-seven public facilities, including the water and sewage business office and the comprehensive social welfare center, were submerged and lost functionality. Gurye-gun is conducting emergency restoration of roads and embankments by mobilizing 250 heavy equipment vehicles.

Two thousand people, including volunteers, administrative, firefighting, and police officials, are engaged in restoration work, focusing on the market on the 5th, which suffered severe flood damage, and restoration of flooded villages is underway. Four hundred fifty soldiers from the 31st Division and the 61st Special Forces Battalion are restoring Yangjeong Village, which suffered livestock damage to 1,500 Korean cattle (Hanwoo).

The rescue operation for 29 cows stranded on the roofs and tops of houses in the Yangjeong district of Gurye-eup is expected to be completed by the afternoon of the 11th. Thirty-nine people, including public officials, livestock cooperative employees, and firefighters, were mobilized to tranquilize the cows with anesthetic darts containing sedatives, then rescued them using five dump trucks and excavators.

Water supply to the Gurye-eup area began on the 11th. Although it was originally expected to be restored on the 15th, emergency restoration allowed water supply to start earlier than scheduled. However, water supply is delayed in some areas due to air pressure in the water pipes, and air pressure removal work is underway. Nevertheless, this is a temporary restoration water supply, and because a large amount of water is used in the restoration work, sporadic water outages are occurring.

On the 10th, a 30-meter section of the road retaining wall near Guman Reservoir collapsed due to a landslide, and part of County Road No. 7 is currently closed. In addition, eight sections, including part of National Road No. 17 where Seosi 1 Bridge was washed away on the 8th, are closed.

On the 10th, Kim Soon-ho, the governor of Gurye-gun, visited the Gurye 5-day Market and requested Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun, Committee Chairman Kim Jong-in, and the leadership of the United Future Party to declare the area a special disaster zone for rapid damage recovery. He also proposed raising the support limit for small business owners from the current 3 million won to 30 million won and prior consultation on dam discharge.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.