Editor's Pick: Anxiety Over Approaching 'Water Bomb' Monsoon—Will We Be Helpless Again This Year?

On August 8, 2022, Seoul was hit by a torrential downpour, with rainfall reaching up to 141 millimeters per hour.

A woman in her 40s, her sister, and her young daughter, who lived in a semi-basement home in Sillim-dong, were unable to escape the rising floodwaters and lost their lives.

Although a flood forecasting system existed at the time, it focused on whether riverbanks would overflow, making it ineffective for predicting flooding in urban residential areas.

Since then, the Urban Flood Prevention Act was enacted, and the government has established an urban flood forecasting system, which began its first operation today.

We simulated the situation during the Sillim-dong flooding using this new system.

Around 6:00 a.m. that day, there were no significant anomalies in the rainfall and Han River water level data. However, as the rain intensified, a flood advisory was issued for the area before 1:00 p.m.

The fatal incident occurred around 8:30 p.m., meaning the risk of flooding had already been identified seven hours earlier.

[Interview] Cha Jun-ho / Researcher, Han River Flood Control Office: "Around 12:50 p.m., we could have determined the situation to issue a flood advisory. It appears we could have provided notice (of the flood risk) at least several hours in advance."

To predict urban flooding, it is crucial to understand underground conditions, such as clogged sewage pipes, and it has now become possible to monitor the situation inside these pipes.

This is because nearly 400 sewage pipe water level sensors installed across six districts, including Seocho, Gangnam, and Gwanak in Seoul, have been integrated into the system.

Data on sewage water levels is transmitted to a real-time control center, and text alert services are provided to residents in the affected areas when flood advisories or warnings are issued.

[Interview] Kim Tae-hyung / Researcher, Han River Flood Control Office: "We are also installing additional sensors to monitor conditions such as rain gutter levels and (blockages) to better understand the situation."

The government plans to analyze the results from the operation in the six Seoul districts and establish a plan to expand the system nationwide by the end of the year.

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Reported by Jang Se-man | Video by Lee Byung-joo | Video Editing by Kim Yoon-sung | Produced by SBS Digital News
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.