The voices of those who were trapped in an underground driveway in Dong-gu, Busan, flooded with up to 80 mm of rain per hour, died, and the voices of the local governments and local governments were overwhelmed.

The city of Busan took several measures after the death of two people on the underground road in Ujangchun-ro, Dongnae-gu, which was flooded with heavy rain six years ago, but it became difficult to avoid criticism because the same accident occurred again.

On the 23rd, at 10:18 pm, two men and women in their 20s and women in their 50s and 60s died because the 175m long, two-way two-way Busan Dong-gu Choryang Underpass was flooded, connecting Busan's Jungang-daero and Chungjang-daero.

Two were rescued, but died during treatment at the hospital, and one was found dead on the underpass five hours after the accident.

The remaining six rescued people are being treated for hypothermia.

When the 119 rescuers who were dispatched after receiving the damage report arrived at the site, the water was filled up to 2.5 meters of the underground driveway with a height of 3.5 meters.


The victims escaped from the flooded vehicle, but the Busan Fire and Disaster Headquarters once reported that the underpass seemed to have been displaced without being evacuated by the water near the ceiling.

In particular, it is estimated that it was not easy for the victims to escape because many vehicles were isolated in the middle of the first 175m-long underground roadway.

Choryang No. 1 Underpass was one of the flooded flooded areas where water filled with heavy rain.

However, the underground road was not controlled until 10:18 PM when the heavy rain alarm came into effect on the day and the flood occurred.

There was a signboard at the entrance of the underground car, but there was no guidance message indicating whether or not it was flooded.

When the underground roadway in the city center installed to solve the traffic difficulties is heavy, it turns into a reservoir that traps rainwater, so there is a high possibility of damage.

Moreover, there were three drainage pumps with a capacity of 20 tons per minute on this underground driveway, but it was not enough to remove the spilled rainwater.


Dong-gu, a local government, had doubled the drainage pump capacity in 2010.

The accident is similar to the accident where two people died on the underground road of Ujangchun-ro, Dongnae-gu, flooded by rain of up to 130 mm per hour on August 25, 2014.

At that time, a 70-year-old grandmother and a teenage granddaughter died because they could not escape from an underground car that had not been flooded.

This underground driveway, which is 244 meters long and 4.5 meters high, was immediately submerged due to rainwater pouring down from Mt. Geumjeong.

There was a drainage pump, but the switchboard was submerged in water and did not even work.

Busan City has since moved to most of the 35 underground roads across Busan to increase the drainage pump capacity to prevent the'second Ujangchun-ro underground road accident'.

However, it has been pointed out that there are many underground roads that are more than 100m in length, such as the first underground roadway in which the accident occurred, as well as Daenam, Guseo, Danggam, Munhyeon, Ujangchun, and Naeseong, and the drainage pump capacity is insufficient, and it is still vulnerable to heavy rain.


On the other hand, the Haeundae-gu Centum Underpass, which was recently built among Busan's underpasses, contrasted with the heavy rains in the surrounding roads yesterday and the drainage inside the underground passages being relatively well drained.

(Photo = Busan Fire & Disaster Headquarters, Busan Police Agency, Yonhap News)