Geoje, Tongyeong reel from record rainfall as emergency crews race to restore order

The southern coast of South Gyeongsang Province, including Geoje and Tongyeong, is reeling from the worst flooding in recent memory after up to 944 millimeters of rain fell over three days. Red mud cascading from hillside cuts swallowed apartment buildings and private homes, while overflowing streams submerged downtown commercial districts and a passenger ferry terminal.

The National Fire Agency issued a national mobilization order and drew in firefighting resources from neighboring cities and provinces. Civilian, government and military personnel have since been working around the clock — caked in mud — to pump out floodwater and clear debris.

The hillside behind an apartment complex in Okpo-dong, Geoje, bore the full force of the deluge. By Tuesday morning, the slope had been torn open, exposing raw red earth across a wide swath. Hundreds of tons of soil and snapped pine trees blocked the complex's access road, and first-floor windows and balconies lay buried under mounds of dirt — a stark testament to the violence of the collapse.

The landslide struck at around 4:40 a.m. Monday, when a torrent of soil from the adjacent hill poured directly into the ground-floor units of the complex, trapping residents. Emergency rescue teams dug through the debris but could not save everyone — one person died and two others were injured.

Yun Seong-won, a fire lieutenant at the Geoje Fire Station overseeing rescue and drainage operations at the scene, remained at his post despite visible fatigue. "Monday's landslide created an extremely urgent situation when residents were buried inside the apartment," he said. "After the national mobilization order was issued, rescue and flooding calls came in without pause, and every crew member has been holding the line in 24-hour rotating shifts, catching sleep whenever possible." He added that life-saving operations had largely concluded but that draining the flooded basements and commercial spaces across Okpo-dong and Gohyeon-dong would take considerable time given the scale of the inundation.

The commercial strip in nearby Okpo-dong was in chaos. Mud blanketed the roads and asphalt had cracked and buckled in multiple spots. Shop owners scrambled with dustpans and buckets to bail out the muddy water that had surged into their ground-floor premises. A 60-year-old restaurant owner surnamed Kim said she came out in the early hours to find water already up to her knees. "I watched the water rush in and there was nothing I could do — I just stood there helpless," she said, her voice breaking. Another restaurant owner, a 54-year-old surnamed Jeong, sighed as he surveyed the damage. "Everything in my ingredient storage got soaked — there's nothing left to salvage," he said.

Gohyeon-dong and Jangpyeong-dong, home to Geoje's largest commercial district, also suffered severe flooding. The Gohyeon Stream burst its banks, submerging the wheels of buses parked at the intercity bus terminal more than halfway. A Gohyeon-dong resident said the speed of the flooding was unlike anything seen in decades of living there. "Even during major typhoons the stream never overflowed, but in less than 30 minutes the water was up to my thighs," the resident said.

Tongyeong was equally battered. In Inpyeong-dong, a hillside behind a standalone house gave way, exposing the foundation and tilting the entire structure roughly 20 degrees, forcing the occupants to flee. The Buksin Traditional Market, Seoho Traditional Market and several underground parking garages were flooded. At Hansando, a nationally designated heritage site, fallen trees crashed into buildings at the Yi Sun-sin memorial complex, prompting authorities to bar all visitors.

According to the South Gyeongsang Province Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, cumulative rainfall across the province averaged 223.9mm from Saturday through 6:30 a.m. Tuesday. By area, Geoje recorded 664.8mm at its main gauge — with a peak of 944.0mm at its highest-rainfall point — followed by Tongyeong at 541.5mm (peak 765.7mm), Goseong at 376.2mm (peak 496.0mm at Hangnim), Sacheon at 321.9mm, Namhae at 319.8mm and Changwon at 218.3mm, with the heaviest totals concentrated along the southern coast.

Casualties were provisionally tallied at four: one dead and two lightly injured in Geoje, and one seriously injured in Tongyeong. Landslide and flooding risks forced 274 households — 250 households with 460 residents in Geoje and 24 households with 38 residents in Tongyeong — totaling 498 people to seek emergency shelter at community centers and senior welfare facilities. Of those, 129 households comprising 253 people have since returned home, but 145 households with 245 residents remain in temporary accommodation.

Damage to public and private infrastructure across the province reached 124 cases. Road damage accounted for 12 cases, including slope erosion along National Route 14 in Geoje and flooding on National Route 14 in Tongyeong. Riverbank erosion was recorded in 21 cases — 13 in Geoje and eight in Tongyeong. Water and sewage systems sustained damage in eight cases, cutting water supply to roughly 4,790 households in Geoje's Geoje-myeon, Dunduk-myeon and Jangseungpo-dong, and in Tongyeong's Hansan-myeon. Five landslides were recorded, along with five cases of damage to nationally designated heritage sites, including flooding at the birthplace of Kim Sang-ok and the former Daeheung Inn in Tongyeong.

Power outages swept through the region, cutting electricity to a total of 2,665 households — 1,656 in Geoje and 768 in Tongyeong. At the height of the downpour, authorities imposed full traffic controls at 240 locations across the province, including nine roads in Geoje and Sacheon, 48 riverside walking paths, 141 low-water crossings and 18 streambed roads.

As the rain eased, South Gyeongsang Province, local governments and fire authorities threw their full administrative weight behind emergency recovery operations in Geoje, Tongyeong and surrounding areas.

The National Fire Agency mobilized a total of 569 personnel and 120 pieces of equipment — 487 South Gyeongsang Province firefighters with 93 vehicles, supplemented by 82 personnel and 28 vehicles from Busan, Daegu, North Gyeongsang Province and Changwon. About 200 military personnel were also deployed Tuesday to assist with recovery in the affected areas. Fire crews completed 107 life-saving rescues — 90 in Geoje and 17 in Tongyeong — and then turned to large-scale drainage operations, running high-capacity motorized pumps at 231 sites including flooded commercial basements in Okpo-dong and Gohyeon-dong.

South Gyeongsang Province and its municipalities deployed 359 workers along with 37 excavators, 44 dump trucks and other heavy equipment to clear mud from roads and open temporary routes. Emergency safety inspections are also under way at 650 landslide-risk sites and 48 low-lying coastal areas across the province. The Ministry of Interior and Safety provided 2 billion won in special earmarked grants to South Gyeongsang Province to fund emergency flood recovery.

South Gyeongsang Province Governor Park Wan-su chaired an emergency response meeting Tuesday morning, using the record rainfall along the southern coast as an occasion to order a comprehensive review of the province's existing disaster response framework. He called for a systematic disaster management system capable of operating seamlessly from early preventive measures through emergency response to damage recovery.