Heavy snow began blanketing much of the country on Wednesday, causing traffic disruptions and flight cancellations nationwide.
The Ministry of the Interior and Safety announced that it had activated Level 1 operations at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters and raised the crisis alert from “attention” to “caution” as the advisory, which was initially issued for the country’s southern regions, was expanded to the central regions.
The ministry also instructed relevant agencies to take measures to minimize damage, such as road accidents and roof collapses, and reduce inconveniences to the public. Several road accidents were reported in different regions, including Ulsan, Daegu and North Chungcheong Province, but no major casualties occurred.
The Korea Airports Corp. announced that 16 of 601 flights scheduled for the day nationwide had been canceled and 11 domestic flights and two international flights were delayed, as of 8 a.m.
The heavy snowfall and rain were expected to continue in the greater Seoul area, the Korean Peninsula’s central regions and southern regions until the night.
According to the Korea Meteorological Administration, a heavy snow advisory was issued for the Jeolla Provinces, Gyeongsang Provinces and Chungcheong Provinces as the regions expected to see 1 to 5 centimeters of snowfall per hour on Wednesday. The greater Seoul area and Gangwon Province expected 3 to 8 cm of snow per hour as well.
An advisory is issued when snowfall is expected to reach 5 cm or more within 24 hours.
The Jeolla Provinces, Gyeongsang Provinces and Jeju Island were expected to receive 5 to 40 millimeters of rainfall per hour on Wednesday.
sj_lee@heraldcorp.com
