Construction of the 'large depth rainwater drainage facility' announced last month by Mayor Oh Se-hoon of being installed in flood-prone areas is in full swing.



The large-depth rainwater drainage facility is a facility that creates a large tunnel 40-50m underground to store rainwater and discharge it into a river when it rains.



The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced that it would first promote the installation of large-scale rainwater drainage facilities in three of the six locations announced by Mayor Oh, in Gangnam Station, Gwanghwamun, and Dorimcheon.



These three areas were particularly affected by flooding due to record heavy rains on the 8th and 11th of last month.



The Seoul Metropolitan Government aims to minimize the project period and complete it by 2027.



In the section from Gangnam Station to Han River, the length of the project is 3.1km and the amount of rainfall is 110mm or more per hour, and the section from Hyoja-dong to Cheonggyecheon in Jongno-gu around Gwanghwamun is 3.2km in length and 100mm or more per hour.



For Dorimcheon, a facility with a length of 5.2km and a scale of 100mm or more per hour will be reviewed in the section between Sindaebang Station in Dongjak-gu and Yeouido.



A total of 900 billion won will be invested in this project over five years, including government and municipal funds.



The large-scale rainwater drainage facility installation project was first promoted by Mayor Oh in the wake of heavy rains in the area of ​​Mt. Umyeon in 2011.



At that time, Mayor Oh Se-hoon announced plans to build large-scale rainwater drainage facilities in seven locations: Shinwol-dong, Gangnam Station, Gwanghwamun, Dorimcheon, Sadang-dong, Gangdong-gu, and Yongsan-gu, Dongjak-gu.



However, during the term of Mayor Park Won-soon, it was installed only in Shinwol-dong, and the remaining six locations were changed to a small distributed type such as a rainwater pumping station.



The Seoul Metropolitan Government expects that damage from heavy rain will be minimized if a deep drainage system is installed in an area vulnerable to flooding.



In fact, in Sinwol-dong, Yangcheon-gu, where the drainage system was installed, there was no flood damage even in the torrential downpour of about 60 mm per hour last month.



The city analyzed that without this facility, 600 households in the area would have been flooded.



As the first stage of the project, the city plans to start the 'feasibility study and basic planning service' next month, complete it by the first half of next year, and start construction thereafter.



The remaining drainage facilities in Sadang-dong, Gangdong-gu, and Yongsan-gu in Dongjak-gu will be classified as a two-phase project and implemented in stages.



(Photo = provided by Seoul City, Yonhap News)