Went Down to Move Car, Flooded in Seconds... "Even Adult Men Can't Get Out"

[Anchor]

During the recent torrential downpours, vehicles were swept away on roads and underground parking lots were completely submerged. Fortunately, this did not lead to casualties. When heavy rain pours and water rises like this, evacuating takes priority over saving vehicles.

Here is a report by reporter Kim Gyu-ri.

[Reporter]

In the underground parking lot of an apartment complex in Geoje, South Gyeongsang Province, which was struck by extreme heavy rain early yesterday morning (August 17), only the tops of vehicles are barely visible as residents sit helplessly at the entrance, watching the flooded cars.

By the time the announcement to move vehicles was made, water had already rushed in.

[Resident, Yangjeong-dong, Geoje, South Gyeongsang Province: There was an announcement over the PA system early in the morning to move our cars. So I went down, but everything was already submerged. By the time I got down there, the water had already risen enough to submerge the vehicles.]

[Park Chul-seok / Resident, Yangjeong-dong, Geoje, South Gyeongsang Province: My wife was trapped in the elevator yesterday. She barely managed to escape after being trapped for about 30 minutes with water up to her neck. Because of the trauma...]

Once an underground parking lot begins to flood, the entrance and exit ramps instantly become pathways through which water rapidly pours in.

[Cho Won-chul / Professor Emeritus, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Yonsei University: When more than 15 cm of water flows down the entrance ramp of an underground parking lot, the velocity exceeds 2 meters per second, making it difficult for even a robust man to walk back up.]

[Lee Young-joo / Professor, Department of Fire and Disaster Protection, Kyungil University: Whether the water level is low or high, that is not the issue. When you hear that an underground parking lot is flooding, you must not go down there.]

In fact, during Typhoon Hinnamnor in 2022, seven residents at an apartment complex in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, died after being trapped by rapidly rising water when they went down to the underground parking lot to move their vehicles.

People might think driving is still possible up to knee-deep water, but once water rises to the level of the car tires, even an adult man alone will find it difficult to open the car door and get out.

[Let's try opening the door once. It is not easy to open.]

Installing flood barriers at the entrance of an underground parking lot can help delay rainwater from flowing in.

[Cho Won-chul / Professor Emeritus, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Yonsei University: We need to manufacture and install flood control panels to block water from entering at the entrance. Doing this up to a height of 1 meter...]

Experts unanimously advised that if heavy rain is forecasted, vehicles should be moved in advance, and if flooding has already begun, giving up on the vehicle entirely is the safest choice.

(Video reporting: Yoon Hyung, Video editing: Lee Sang-min, Footage provided by: Korea Transportation Safety Authority)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.