Lee Hae-rin is a City Desk reporter at The Korea Times, covering social issues, tourism and taekwondo. She is passionate about speaking up for the rights of minorities, including women, LGBTQ+, people with disabilities and animals as well as discovering the latest makgeolli trend in town. Feel free to reach her at lhr@koreatimes.co.kr.
Koreans battle with unprecedented November snowfall
Passengers line up at a bus stop in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, under heavy snowfall, Thursday morning. Yonhap
By Lee Hae-rin
An office worker surnamed Kim, 32, who lives in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, left home an hour earlier than usual to go to work in Seoul on Thursday morning due to the heavy snowfall.
The extreme weather the previous day already made it difficult to commute, she said.
"I saw two fully packed trains go by on the Suin-Bundang Line from 7:30 a.m. When I finally got on the train, there were so many people I couldn't breathe, so I got off halfway to my stop."
She heard the broadcast that 10 out of 19 trains on the Suin-Bundang Line could not leave their base due to the heavy snowfall, so only nine were operating.
In the end, it took her three hours to get to work, a trip that would usually take an hour, and she was late. "I need to come out earlier tomorrow," she said.
Vehicles move slowly on a road in southern Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, Thursday morning, when heavy snowfall advisories were issued in the capital and almost all regions of the country. Yonhap
Thursday morning was also chaos for Hwang, a university student living in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province.
She heard an apartment building announcement at 6:30 a.m. advising residents to walk or take public transportation instead of driving cars.
“That’s around the time I left,” she said, explaining that she discovered over 20 centimeters of snow piled up not only around the apartment complex but also on the two-lane road leading out, making it completely impossible for vehicles to pass.
Then she saw all the buses stopped on the road, with the drivers telling passengers to walk to the village center because the buses were out of service under the heavy snowfall.
It took her more than three hours to get to school, a trip that usually takes 90 minutes.
"Just a few weeks ago, as recently as early November, the daytime temperature went up to 25 degrees, so I had no idea the weather could get so cold to suddenly snow this much," Hwang said.
Heavy snow blanketed Korea’s capital area for the second consecutive day, with some 40 centimeters of snowfall in parts of Seoul and Gyeonggi Province.
The snowfall measured at the Seoul Meteorological Observatory in Jongno District, the standard for snowfall in Seoul, was 28.6 centimeters as of 8 a.m., Thursday.
That amount is rare in Seoul, not only for November but also throughout winter.
A roof at a traditional market in Uiwang, Gyeonggi Province, collapses due to heavy snowfall, Thursday. More than 40 centimeters of snow covered some parts of the province since early Wednesday morning, recording the heaviest November snowfall. Newsis
According to KORAIL, trains going in both directions on the Suin-Bundang Line experienced delays as of 7 a.m. in the process of removing snow from tracks and vehicle bases.
Also, at around 5:35 a.m., heavy snowfall caused trees to fall on one of the three tracks between Gunpo Station and Geumjeong Station on Line 1, and the subway stopped running for a while.
In response, Gyeonggi Province held an emergency consultation with the provincial office of education to prevent safety accidents and recommend closures for schools and kindergartens.
Meanwhile, power outages and water supply disruptions occurred around 6:52 a.m. in parts of western Seoul’s Mapo District on Thursday morning.
광교 부근 출근스키.....
— 저스트회피 (@Test__PWD) November 28, 2024
이 나라는 미쳤다 pic.twitter.com/5eYnEozijm
It was found that the heavy snowfall caused a tree to collapse and sever a power line leading to a drainage facility, and the resulting power failure caused the water supply to shut off. The restoration work has since been completed.
Over 11,000 personnel and nearly 20,000 pieces of equipment were mobilized to remove snow from roads, the Seoul Metropolitan Government said.
The Korea Meteorological Administration held a regular forecast briefing. "As the snow cloud band weakened as of 10 a.m., the special snow advisory that had been issued in some areas, including Seoul, was lifted,” it said.
Gangwon Province is forecast to see an additional 10 centimeters of snow and 15 cm more in the mountainous areas of Jeju Island by early Friday morning.
Although the snowfall is expected to end across the country late Friday evening, pedestrians and drivers should be careful of slippery roads and sidewalks, the weather agency noted.