Naju-si, 65mm Heavy Rainfall per Hour... Full Effort to Restore Damage from Intense Rainstorm

Naju City in Jeollanam-do is making every effort to recover from damage caused by heavy rain, with hourly rainfall reaching up to 65mm since the beginning of the monsoon season.

According to the city on the 28th, a heavy rain advisory was in effect from 9 p.m. the previous day until 9 a.m. on the day, during which 237.9mm of heavy rain fell.

Yoon Byung-tae, Mayor of Naju City, is inspecting the wells in Yeongsan-dong that were flooded due to heavy rain.
[Photo by Naju City]

In particular, from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. the previous day, heavy rain of up to 65mm fell in Munpyeong-myeon, and 46mm in Noan-myeon within one hour.

Following the issuance of the heavy rain advisory at 9 p.m. the previous day, drainage pump stations, river drainage gates, and road management workers on emergency standby began emergency duty.

An hour later, with the heavy rain warning in effect, the Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters situation room was activated, and the vice mayor, along with heads of 20 eup, myeon, and dong districts, all departments, and emergency duty personnel from eup, myeon, and dong, were deployed to conduct on-site patrols of habitual flooding areas and check real-time damage status.

Fortunately, there were no casualties, but numerous reports of damage due to heavy rain, including flooding of farmland and roads, and power outages caused by lightning strikes, were received.

The city is taking advantage of the temporary lull in the monsoon to swiftly carry out damage recovery.

According to damage reports received by 9 a.m. that day, 486 hectares of farmland (rice paddies) in 14 eup, myeon, and dong areas were flooded. The city is currently deploying all departments and eup, myeon, and dong staff to conduct additional flood damage surveys and facility restoration.

In Budeok-dong and Seji-myeon areas, a power outage occurred in 154 households due to a lightning strike at 11:43 p.m. the previous day. Korea Electric Power Corporation completed restoration around 2:52 a.m. the next day, 3 hours and 9 minutes after the outage.

Power outages also caused damage such as communication equipment failure at some buildings of the Naju City Hall annex and main building, as well as at Bonghwang and Dasimyeon Administrative Welfare Centers.

Fifteen on-site complaints including road flooding, soil erosion, and broken brushwood have been fully restored through prompt action.

Mayor Yoon Byung-tae visited Dongsan Village in Noan-myeon, which suffered flood damage, starting at 7 a.m. that day, followed by Yeongsan-dong wells, Samyoung-dong Booyoung Apartments habitual flood zones, Munpyeong-myeon Samho fields, Hwangpo Dotbae dock, and Seji-myeon duck farms, ordering rapid damage recovery to minimize damage to farms and citizens.

Due to damage site inspections, investigations, and recovery efforts, the supplementary Q&A session of the Naju City Council plenary meeting, originally scheduled for 10 a.m. that day, was postponed to 2 p.m.

Mayor Yoon said, “Although the monsoon is temporarily easing, with rain forecasted on the 29th and 30th, please be thorough in rapid damage recovery and pre-inspection of areas vulnerable to landslides, steep slope collapses, and disaster-prone facilities.”

He added, “We will focus all efforts on pre-control measures against habitual flooding in low-lying areas and river overflows, as well as on disaster damage minimization through drainage pump stations, river drainage gates, and road management.”

Naju = Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yukbong baekok@asiae.co.kr

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