"It's Our Livelihood," But Streets Are Empty... Torrential Rains Hit Downtown Tongyeong

[Anchor]

The downtown area and tourist spots in Tongyeong, which were battered by torrential rains just as fierce as those in Geoje, are now immediately worried about their livelihoods. At a time when they should be bustling with tourists, footsteps have completely halted, deepening the sighs of merchants and residents.

Reporter Lee Min-jae from KNN.

[Reporter]

This is Tongyeong, Gyeongsangnam-do, where a water bomb of 750 mm was unleashed.

The old downtown area, lined with traditional buildings along alleyways, took a direct hit.

With almost no height difference between the insides and outsides of the buildings, the damage was bound to be massive.

The problem is that even after cleaning up the ruined streets and shops, there are no customers.

[Kang Mi-kyung / Merchant in Jungang-dong, Tongyeong: Before the rain, there were a huge number of people even on weekdays. Now, almost nobody comes.]

While the rain damage is slowly being recovered, regional losses continue to accumulate.

At a time when it would normally be crowded with tourists, visitor footsteps have completely cut off amid considerations to declare the area a special disaster zone.

Even Tongyeong's representative tourist attraction, Dongpirang Village, has become a place where finding tourists is as hard as plucking a star from the sky.

[Kim Mi-sook and Oh Won-gyo / Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province: We heard there was a lot of damage, but we had already planned our trip. Coming here and walking around like this almost feels apologetic to the locals. We had reservations made, so we had no choice but to come.]

Shops are effectively in a state of suspended business.

[Cafe Employee in Tongyeong: There were some customers even during the Hansan Battle Festival. After that, when the heavy rain poured down, who would come when they call it a disaster area?]

Traditional markets are no different, lacking customers as well.

The decrease in tourists is a problem, but residents affected by the disaster are also tightening their belts, causing consumption itself to disappear.

[Seoho Market Merchant in Tongyeong: They told me, "It's chaos, come quickly," so I rushed over. Our livelihoods are on the line, so we have to clean up fast. Customers have dropped significantly. Some people might have damage in their own homes, too.]

Following the disaster of extreme downpours, there are deep concerns that another disaster—the halting of visitors to a city where tourism equals livelihood—might strike.

(Video Reported by Park Young-jun / KNN)

Lee Min-jae, KNN
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.