Saturday, 28 December 2024

Deaths, injuries, blackouts reported nationwide as heaviest November snow in over 100 years hits Seoul, South Korea - 9.4 inches


Gyeongbokgung Palace in downtown Seoul
© EPA-EFE/REXGyeongbokgung Palace in downtown Seoul
At least three people were killed, multiple injuries and power outages were reported, and over 100 flights were canceled on Wednesday after a heavy snowstorm pelted the nation.

The Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) said more than 24 centimeters (9.44 inches) of snow had battered Seoul and Gangwon as of 4 p.m. Gyeonggi received 22 centimeters of snow, and 14 centimeters of snow hit Incheon. Other provinces and Jeju Island had gotten 2.8 to 20.1 centimeters of snow.

The capital had received over 16 centimeters of snow as of 8 a.m., the city's highest daily snow accumulation in November since modern meteorological observation began in 1907.



In Gangwon, pummeled by over 21.8 centimeters of snow, an 81-year-old passenger died after five vehicles collided on an expressway at around 6:40 a.m. Two other drivers were severely injured, and four passengers received minor injuries.

On the same day, a 78-year-old man died after his garage collapsed while he was removing snow from its roof at around 8:40 a.m. in Yangpyeong County in Gyeonggi.

At around 12:18 p.m., an employee of an expressway operator in his 30s, who was controlling the traffic in Hwaseong in Gyeonggi, was struck by a bus that skidded off on a snowy road. The employee was later pronounced dead at the hospital.

At around 6:10 a.m., an SUV vehicle and a truck struck each other near a tunnel in Namyangju in Gyeonggi. Two drivers involved in the accident reported back injuries.

Over hundreds of households in Seongbuk District in northern Seoul were affected by an electricity blackout after a tree bent under piled-up snow and hit electricity wires at around 5:30 a.m.

Another 230 households in Gyeonggi's Gwangju experienced power outage after a utility pole collapsed and cut the electricity supply, the Korea Electric Power Corporation said Wednesday.

A total of 146 international and domestic flights had been canceled nationwide: 71 at Incheon International Airport as of 5 p.m. and 31 at Gimpo International Airport, 27 at Jeju International Airport, eight at Gimhae International Airport, two at Gwangju, Gunsan and Wonju airports, and one flight each from Ulsan and Yeosu airports as of 4 p.m., according to Incheon International Airport Corporation and Korea Airports Corporation. The counts are based on departing airports.
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