95 waterway sites damaged in Geoje, Tongyeong as South Gyeongsang Province launches sweeping field probe

South Gyeongsang Province has launched a large-scale field investigation and recovery planning effort for waterway infrastructure damaged by extreme rainfall in Geoje and Tongyeong.

The provincial government said Thursday it has assembled a damage survey team of 26 technical specialists from seven private design firms to conduct a precision assessment through Aug. 25.

Preliminary tallies put the number of damaged waterway facilities at 49 sites in Geoje and 46 in Tongyeong, for a combined total of 95. The damage was particularly concentrated along major waterways in Geoje, including Dundeokcheong and Gohyeoncheong streams, where fast-moving currents eroded embankments and broke apart revetment blocks.

The private survey teams have been distributed across both cities — five firms with 22 personnel in Geoje and two firms with four personnel in Tongyeong. Investigators will conduct a site-by-site analysis of the scale of damage and causes of failure at key flood-control structures, including embankments, revetments, drop structures, weirs and drainage gates. The province plans to deploy additional specialists if needed to keep the survey on schedule.

The findings will serve as the basis for selecting sites for "improvement-based restoration" — a standard that goes beyond simply returning structures to their previous state and incorporates flood-prevention measures such as widening channel cross-sections and reinforcing embankments. The province will enter damage estimates and projected restoration costs for each facility into the Ministry of Interior and Safety's National Disaster Management Information System, then pursue central government funding through a joint national inspection process.

Municipal administrative staff have been assigned exclusively to secondary safety measures ahead of further rainfall, including installing sandbag barriers and applying waterproof sheeting. Emergency restoration work stands at roughly 20 percent completion. By deploying the specialist survey teams, the province aims to prevent the dispersal of administrative capacity and run a two-track approach — advancing emergency repairs and long-term restoration planning at the same time.

"We will conduct a thorough field investigation to accurately determine the scale and causes of the damage," said Lee Jae-cheol, director of the South Gyeongsang Province environment and forestry bureau. "We will move beyond simple repairs and quickly draw up a systematic disaster recovery plan, marshaling our administrative resources so that residents can return to safe, normal lives as soon as possible."