Flood recovery delays cause worry

[Anchor]

Due to climate change, extreme weather events are becoming more frequent, and there are still over 600 places across the country that have not yet recovered from flood damage.

Residents are anxious about the possibility of additional damage.

Minsu Ah, a reporter from the field, has the story.

[Report]

A large bundle of feed is swept away by the rushing water.

Greenhouses are submerged, leaving only the roofs above water.

In July two years ago, heavy rain caused the Goesan Dam in Chungbuk Province to overflow, forcing thousands of nearby residents to evacuate.

Bridges connecting the village were submerged, and roads were washed away.

Recovery work, which began only in March this year, 20 months after the damage occurred.

The bridge is gradually returning to its original state, but it will take more than a year to fully restore the surrounding area.

[Cha Deok-yeol/Goesan County, Chungbuk: "I can't even talk about the containers. About five or six of them were swept away and got stuck here at the pier. The water rises quickly."]

In July last year, over 130mm of rain fell overnight, causing the levee of the Beopgok Reservoir in Chungbuk Yeongdong to burst.

A man in his sixties, who was in a nearby farm shed, was swept away by the rushing water and went missing.

The areas of the washed-out levee are still roughly covered with blue tarps and sandbags.

This is the reservoir in Yeongdong where the missing incident occurred last year.

The recovery work to rebuild the collapsed levee is expected to be completed no earlier than the second half of next year.

The nearby road shows exposed, broken asphalt as it is.

[Nearby Resident: "I hope the road recovery is done quickly. They say it will start by the end of this year. It seems like it will take quite a long time."]

Due to the sluggish recovery work, residents who suffered flood damage are terrified even by the slightest drop of rain.

[An Young-hee/Yeongdong County, Chungbuk: "Four to five years ago, water came into my room, and I had to throw everything away. Soy sauce, salt, and jars were all cracked and broken. Just seeing water makes me feel like I'm going to die. I'm scared to death this year too."]

Among the over 4,800 flood recovery sites nationwide, there are still about 600 places where recovery has not been completed and construction is ongoing.

Local governments explain that it is difficult to secure construction costs amounting to hundreds of millions of won, and various administrative procedures, such as permits for river use for construction, are delayed.

As sudden heavy rains and other extreme weather events become more frequent, the recovery work is not keeping pace, increasing the anxiety of residents in flood-affected areas.

This is Minsu Ah from KBS News.