After 'wake-up call,' Korea bases
take precautions against costly floods
By Jan Wesner Childs,
Seoul bureau
Andy Dunaway / Stars and Stripes
Floodgates and a new retention basin for water overflow will help minimize damage from
floods at Camp Red Cloud and surrounding bases. |
CAMP RED CLOUD — U.S. Army camps north of Seoul suffered
millions of dollars in flood damages and one soldier was killed during severe flooding in
the last three years.
It shouldn’t happen again, according to public works and
military officials at the bases, thanks to new construction projects and flood-control
programs.
“That was a wake-up call,” said William Kapaku, civilian
executive assistant at U.S. Army Garrison Camp Red Cloud, which includes nine bases in the
Uijongbu area north of Seoul.
Camp Red Cloud and its surrounding bases sustained $125 million in
damages in the 1998 floods. In response, the command launched several flood-prevention
programs, including realigning a flood channel that runs through the base, creating a
retention basin for water overflow and installing floodgates.
About $2.5 million has been spent on the measures. That doesn’t
include money spent replacing buildings and other facilities destroyed by the floods.
Camp Casey spent $34 million to repair and replace facilities and
improve flood-prevention measures. Retaining walls were built along Casey Creek, which
runs for about 3.5 miles through the base. The creek overflowed its banks in 1998.
The bases also put more focus on flood-response programs, such as the
flood-warning system, that rely on humans. Now it’s clearer how each agency should
respond to each flood-condition level, Kapaku said, and emergency public works teams are
positioned during rainstorms at areas where there might be trouble.
That wasn’t the case in 1998.
“There was a process in place that we weren’t
following,” he said.
Lt. Col. Keith Anderson, garrison commander at Camp Red Cloud, said
the base now treats potential natural disasters similar to any other threat to troops.
“Destructive weather is integrated into the overall
force-protection measures,” Anderson said.
That means there are warnings put out, and certain procedures are
followed during each warning level.
The biggest problem at Red Cloud in 1998 was landslides, according to
Bob Song, the base’s public works director. Rocks and debris got caught up in the
curving drainage ditch that ran through the base. The straightening of the drainage ditch
and other measures were completed to prevent future problems.
During past floods at Casey, CONEX containers used for storing
equipment floated down the creek on the base, damming the water flow. Now containers and
other equipment have a mandatory distance they must be kept from the creek.
Twenty-six inches of rain fell in 48 hours at Casey during the
’98 floods.
“We experienced probably the maximum that would ever happen
here,” said Hans Wicks, deputy director of the Division of Public Works at the base.
Anderson said buildings destroyed by the floods were replaced by
sturdier structures. Many of Red Cloud’s Quonset huts disappeared and are being
replaced by more modern buildings, including two new barracks that cost $12 million, and a
$6 million division headquarters.
Anderson said the floods produced some positive results: new
construction projects.
“They did build it back, and they did it better,” he said.
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