Metropolitan Area Heavy Snow Advisory... Seoul City Snow Removal Level 2 Emergency Duty

Snow forecast of 3~10cm in the Seoul metropolitan area from 6 PM on the 3rd to the 4th, Heavy Snow Advisory issued
Seoul City, districts, and related agencies enter Level 2 emergency snow removal duty from 2 PM

On the 12th, when a large amount of snow fell in Seoul and the central region, a National Assembly official was clearing the snow. Photo by Dongju Yoon doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] Seoul City announced that due to the forecast of heavy snowfall of 3 to 10 cm from 6 PM on the 3rd to early morning on the 4th, it will immediately issue Snow Removal Level 2 starting from 2 PM today and enter an emergency operation system.

With the Level 2 alert, about 8,000 personnel and 1,000 snow removal vehicles and equipment will be deployed for snow removal operations.

Through CCTVs installed along the snowfall movement path in the West Sea region, early signs of snowfall are detected in advance, and snow removal agents will be pre-applied to vulnerable roads such as alleys and steep slopes before snow falls in Seoul. All personnel and equipment will be mobilized to prepare for the snowfall.

The city requested cooperation from the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency to deploy traffic police intensively at vulnerable points immediately upon snowfall to prepare for traffic congestion and to enable traffic control in vulnerable sections during heavy snow.

Additionally, since many vehicles move from Seoul to the Gyeonggi Province area during rush hour and traffic congestion is expected due to insufficient snow removal on adjacent roads, cooperation was also requested from Gyeonggi Province and the Korea Expressway Corporation to prioritize snow removal on roads connected to Seoul.

Following the issuance of Snow Removal Level 2, public transportation during the 3rd evening rush hour and the 4th morning rush hour will be extended by 30 minutes for concentrated dispatch. The subway will operate 36 additional trips during the morning rush hour compared to usual, and 20 additional trips during the evening rush hour.

City buses will also extend the minimum dispatch interval operation by 30 minutes during all routes' rush hours, increasing the number of trips per route. Nighttime reduced operation due to COVID-19 will be temporarily lifted to implement increased service.

To ensure normal operation of city buses and village buses running on slopes and hilly areas, the city plans to establish a pre-snow removal cooperation system with city associations and transportation companies to minimize inconvenience to citizens.

Furthermore, to prevent accidents such as malfunctions of outdoor exposed facilities like electric trains due to overnight freezing, electric trains will be inspected indoors and held inside, and thorough inspections of trains and facilities will be conducted before dispatch.

Han Je-hyun, Director General of Safety at Seoul City, said, “Since heavy snow is forecast during rush hour, we will make every effort in snow removal operations to prevent inconvenience to citizens caused by snowfall,” and urged, “Citizens are also asked to use public transportation and actively participate in ‘clearing snow in front of their homes and stores’ to prevent slip accidents caused by freezing.”

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