Record snow blankets Busan, eastern coastline

A day after unusually heavy snow brought Busan and other eastern areas to a standstill, airline flights and ferries were quickly returning to normal as the snow melted or was removed but many roads were still snarled.

In the country`s major port city of Busan, tens of thousands of public employees and police officials were mobilized to cope with the chaotic conditions when the snow stopped early yesterday morning.

The snowfall was the highest in the city for a century. Busan received a total of 37.5 centimeters of snow over about 15 hours between 3 p.m. Saturday and 6 a.m. yesterday.

"Snow clouds developed in unstable atmospheric conditions along the eastern coastlines, and a wet and warm air mass continued to collide with it, dumping the unusually heavy snow," the Korea Metrological Administration said.

Busan and some southeastern port cities are not considered to be snow-prone areas because of warm currents during the winter.

Other cities such as Pohang and Ulsan also hit by the heavy snow reported record accumulations of around 20 centimeters.

While the snow fell thick and fast on Saturday, air, ground and sea traffic in eastern areas was severely disrupted.

In Busan, all flights to and from Gimhae International Airport near the city were cancelled, ferry operations were suspended and about a hundred major roads were forced to close, according to news reports.

Flights and ferries were back in operation as of noon yesterday but road traffic in Busan remained in turmoil with about 58 roads still closed.

However, with the emergency recovery operations and warm temperatures, the area was forecast to return to normal by late yesterday afternoon.

Despite the major disruption in traffic, local industries were not severely affected by the weekend snow.

Officials at Busan port, Hyundai Motors in Ulsan and POSCO in Pohang told The Korea Herald there was no major disruption due to the heavy snow.

"We`re doing our best to clear our terminals of snow. We expect the job to be done soon without difficulties as snow is ready started melting," a spokesperson at Busan port said.

(milaya@heraldm.com)









By Lee Sun-young