Water's Heavy Sensation: A Reporter's Battle with Flood Trauma

Running along the Tancheon stream, a reporter paused, noticing floodwater levels from a past downpour marked on a bridge pillar. Measuring his height against the mark, he felt a strange sensation realizing the space had been filled with dense water. He imagined branches and debris swept away by the current.

This peculiar habit, he suspects, is linked to recurring nightmares from his childhood. At 150cm tall, he frequented a water park where a wave pool, despite its dangers, was his favorite spot. One day, without a life vest, he was swept into deeper water. Panic set in as his feet lost the ground. His cries for help turned into choking sounds as water filled his throat. Just as he was losing consciousness, a lifeguard pulled him to safety.

The stinging sensation in his nose and the feeling of water entering his esophagus still haunt his dreams, waking him with a struggle. His recent reporting on flood trauma victims, including residents in Andong who faced floods after wildfires, stems from these experiences. He recalls an elderly woman living across from a basement apartment where a family died in the 2022 Seoul flash flood. She described the suffocating feeling of water rising to her chest as still vivid, needing medication to sleep when it rains.

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The feeling of water that rose to my chest is still vivid.

An Andong resident, whose temporary housing provided after a wildfire was washed away by floods, shared a similar story. The trauma of wading through chest-deep water to reach higher ground left him reliant on alcohol to sleep. The overwhelming sensation of water, a taste of existential death, could only be dulled by intoxication.

Faced with nature's immense power or great misfortune, humans have limited options. Yet, humans are defined by their persistent efforts to do what little they can. This includes supporting flood victims' trauma treatment, eliminating human-caused factors like poor construction or inadequate building standards, and working to mitigate the climate crisis. If these seemingly simple actions are neglected, water can claim lives or inflict profound terror on ourselves, our families, and our friends.

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The trauma of that day, wading through water up to our chests to escape to the highest point in the village, means I have to rely on alcohol to sleep.