▲ A farmer washes garlic amidst the heatwave following flood damage
[Last year, the wildfire burned everything away, and this year, the floodwaters washed it all away.]
On the morning of July 20, in Gwimi 1-ri, Iljik-myeon, Andong, North Gyeongsang Province.
Below the mountainside, which was scorched black by a massive wildfire last spring, traces of the muddy water that engulfed the village late on the night of July 18 remained visible.
The temporary housing units where wildfire victims had been staying were gone, leaving behind only empty, mud-covered plots of land.
Due to the torrential rain that poured down on July 18 and 19, some of the modular housing units installed for the wildfire victims were flooded or swept away by the currents.
The city completely dismantled the remaining temporary housing units here on the afternoon of July 19 for safety reasons.
The lives of the victims, who had barely managed to stand back up after the monster wildfire, have collapsed once again in the face of the heavy rain.
The 15 victims who lost even their temporary homes were moving between the village hall and the senior citizens' center, continuing their life as evacuees amidst the sweltering heat.
The North Gyeongsang provincial government announced plans to relocate the victims to temporary shelters using a closed school near the birthplace of Kwon Jung-saeng, but it appears it will take quite some time before they can actually move in.
Kim (77), a grandmother who lost her home in last year's wildfire and had been living in a temporary unit before suffering this flood damage, burst into tears.
She explained the situation at the time, saying, "Around midnight on July 19, the village head called and told me, 'The water is full, you need to get out.' When I barely managed to open the door and step outside, the water had already risen to my chest, so I escaped in a daze."
Kim said her mobile phone was also submerged and washed away, and she had nothing left but the clothes she was wearing.
She reddened her eyes, saying, "After the rain stopped, I went back in (to the temporary unit) and managed to retrieve a few clothes to wash, but they were in a state where nothing could be done. I went through the wildfire last year, and now this flood... I have nowhere to go again. It is heartbreaking beyond words."
Kwon (74), a grandfather who also lived in the village's temporary housing, said his livelihood has become bleak.
He said, "The most urgent thing is transportation. My car and motorcycle are both submerged and need to be scrapped. I cannot go to farm, and I cannot carry out restoration work. I have no way to move."
It was not just the temporary housing built for wildfire victims that suffered; existing homes in the village were also not spared from the flood damage.
Kwon (65), a resident of Gwimi 1-ri, said, "On the day of the flood, rainwater flowed through every alley in the village like a river. We had barely managed to rebuild the village through a village improvement project, and for it to end up like this again is just devastating."
A volunteer, who was sweeping away mud nearby, said, "You can consider that most of the victims have thrown away almost all of their household goods. They say they have nowhere to go and cannot sleep properly due to this 'double disaster'."
In front of and behind the village of Gwimi 1-ri, the mountains that were scorched black by last year's wildfire still remained, and below them, muddy water covered the fields and the village.
The landscape, where the blackened mountains and yellow muddy water overlapped, made the term 'double disaster' feel all too real.
The situation was not much different in Gugye 2-ri, Danchon-myeon, Uiseong County, located about a 10-minute drive from Gwimi 1-ri.
At a stream in this village, which is a major garlic-producing area, foreign workers from Cambodia and Vietnam were washing piles of garlic covered in thick mud one by one.
The temporary housing for wildfire victims, which had been built right next to the stream, was covered in muddy water just like the others.
Although it was not swept away by the rainwater like the temporary housing in Andong, its use was suspended for safety reasons.
Uiseong County plans to decide whether to dismantle them after conducting a safety review.
Son (64), a resident who was clearing piles of dirt from the floor of a warehouse next to the temporary housing, sighed with a look of despair, saying briefly, "Last year, a wildfire; this year, a flood."
In Uiseong, a total of 50 people from 34 households, including 27 people from 17 households who were living in wildfire temporary housing, have been classified as victims of this heavy rainfall.
They are continuing their life as evacuees at the Uiseong Public Stadium with no end in sight.
An official from Uiseong County emphasized, "We evacuated the victims to the Uiseong Public Stadium because more heavy rain is expected this week. Restoration is important, but the most important thing is safety."
(Photo: Yonhap News)
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