Gwangmyeong City to Implement Comprehensive Flood Prevention Measures to Withstand Once-in-a-Century Heavy Rainfall

Renovation of Mokgamcheon and Replacement of Aging Drainage Facilities
Considering the Establishment of a Dedicated Team for 24-Hour Response

Gwangmyeong City in Gyeonggi Province is implementing comprehensive measures to respond to the increasingly frequent heavy rainfall caused by climate change.

On May 21, the city announced its 'Comprehensive Measures to Prevent River and Urban Flooding' at a policy briefing held in the city hall's medium conference room. The measures focus on a three-stage system of prevention, preparedness, and response for summer disaster management.

Kwanghee Park, Director of the Safety, Construction and Transportation Bureau of Gwangmyeong City, stated, "We will continue to strengthen our comprehensive measures with prevention, preparedness, and response systems so that we are not shaken even by a once-in-a-century heavy rainfall event."

Kwanghee Park, Director of the Safety, Construction and Transportation Bureau of Gwangmyeong City, is explaining the 'Comprehensive Measures to Prevent River and Urban Flooding in Response to Heavy Rainfall' at the city hall's medium conference room on the 21st. Provided by Gwangmyeong City

Renovation of Flood-Prone Mokgamcheon... Raising Bridges and Expanding Retention Basins

The core of the plan is to establish a systematic flood defense system. A key project is the renovation of Mokgamcheon, which experiences repeated flood damage during heavy rainfall. Since Mokgamcheon was designated as a national river in 2020, the government has allocated a budget of 384.8 billion KRW for related projects. Since April last year, reconstruction work has been underway on 10 bridges, including three within Gwangmyeong, and land compensation is currently in progress for the construction of the R1 retention basin.

The bridge reconstruction aims to secure 'freeboard,' which is the additional height built into bridges to ensure safety during floods. For example, in the case of Gaeunggyo Bridge located in the Gwangmyeong section of Mokgamcheon, the existing freeboard was -1.03 meters, but it will be raised by 1.86 meters to improve it to 0.83 meters.

The R1 retention basin will be constructed in the Okgil-dong area of Gwangmyeong City, covering 249,745 square meters, with completion scheduled for April 2029. If the R2 and R3 retention basins, which are currently undergoing preliminary feasibility studies, are also built, the city expects to prevent flood damage not only in Gwangmyeong-dong but also in the Gwangmyeong-Siheung District, which is slated for development.

Major Overhaul of Sewer Facilities for Smoother Water Flow

Major Flood Prevention Measures in Gwangmyeong City During Summer. Provided by Gwangmyeong City

The city is also strengthening the maintenance of sewer facilities to prevent flooding. With a project budget of 49.7 billion KRW, the city will install a sewage retention facility with a capacity of 26,000 tons in the area of 685-1 Haan-dong under Dodeoksan Mountain, and expand 1.5 kilometers of stormwater pipelines at four locations, including Geumdang-ro. The public sewer installation project will begin construction next year after land compensation and is scheduled for completion in 2028. For the maintenance of aging sewer pipes, replacement and repair work has been underway since February this year on 4.1 kilometers in Haan-dong and Soha-dong.

Once the study for the Cheolsan-dong sewer maintenance plan, which began last year, is completed, the city plans to begin full-scale improvement work on sewer pipelines in areas with repeated flooding.

The city is also expanding repairs of aging drainage and flood control facilities. Last year, the city replaced drainage pumps at the Haan and Soha drainage pumping stations and five aging sluice gates along Mokgamcheon. This year, two drainage pumps at the Haan pumping station and the Cheolsan No. 2 sluice gate along Anyangcheon will be replaced. A new inflow sluice gate will also be installed at the Cheolsan drainage pumping station to reduce the inflow speed into the reservoir during rainfall.

Flood prevention facilities such as flood barriers and backflow prevention valves will be installed in approximately 200 semi-basement homes. To support this, 1 billion KRW from the disaster management fund will be allocated, providing up to 4 million KRW for single-family homes, 15 million KRW for multi-family housing, and 5 million KRW for commercial properties.

Reviewing the Establishment of a Dedicated Team for 24-Hour Response

The city is also considering establishing a dedicated disaster situation management team to respond quickly to disaster situations such as heavy rainfall. In addition, the city will work on refining the emergency response system, expanding the warning system, and conducting simulation drills.

The dedicated team will be responsible for real-time monitoring and strengthening on-site response during disaster situations. Dedicated personnel will be assigned to ensure a 24-hour operational system.

To help residents evacuate quickly during floods, the city will link water level gauges, which detect rising water levels in real time, with digital multimedia broadcasting (DMB) equipment for disaster alerts, enabling warnings to be issued within two minutes. By the end of this month, 42 outdated broadcasting devices will be replaced to establish the integrated water level gauge system.

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