Heavy Snow Removal

[Anchor Lead]

For the third day, Gangwon Province on Korea’s east coast is struggling to remove heavy snow reaching more than 40 centimeters deep. The work is progressing slowly as the snow has frozen on the roads in frigid temperatures.

[Pkg]

Construction equipment including large lorries and excavators has been mobilized to clear the snow. The snow piled on the roads is plowed and transported away, but there appears to be little difference. 3 days have passed since the snow abated. Even on the weekend, city and county officials struggle with the cleanup.

[Soundbite] Hwang Moon-hwan(Gangneung City Hall) : "We're out early. It's hard work, but what can we do? We need to quickly normalize traffic."

On riversides, snow transported from downtown areas is piled up in massive amounts. Over 5,000 soldiers have been called in to certain east coast areas where local authorities alone could not handle the snow removal. Thanks to the help from the troops, buses are running again in some mountainous regions. But residents are still inconvenienced by icy roads, as the snow has frozen over amid frigid temperatures.

[Soundbite] Eom Tae-yeon(Gangneung Resident) : "It's very inconvenient. It's so slippery that older people like myself can't even venture outside."

It appears more time will be needed for life in the east coast region of Gangwon-do Province to return to normal following the heavy snow which has paralyzed the area.