Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development inspects storm response work No. 8 in Nghe An

Also attending were leaders of Nghe An province: Thai Thanh Quy - Member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Head of the Provincial National Assembly Delegation, Chairman of the Provincial People's Council; Nguyen Duc Trung - Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee; Hoang Nghia Hieu - Member of the Provincial Party Committee Standing Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee.

On the side of Military Region 4, there was Major General Ha Tho Binh - Deputy Commander, Chief of Staff of Military Region.

Storm No. 8 is forecast to directly affect the North Central region, focusing on Nghe An and Ha Tinh. (Photo: National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting).

According to the forecast from the North Central Hydrometeorological Station, from the afternoon of October 13 to October 14, storm No. 8 will directly affect the North Central region, focusing on Nghe An and Ha Tinh provinces. Storm No. 8 has a fast moving speed (20 - 25 km/h), near the center of the storm is strong at level 9, gusting to level 11.

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development and leaders of Nghe An province inspected the Yen Xuan embankment area. Photo: Pham Bang

From tonight (October 13) to October 14, coastal areas of Nghe An province will have strong winds of level 6 - 7, gusting to level 9; some places will have strong winds of level 8, gusting to level 10 due to the combination of cold air. From this afternoon, October 13 - 15, Nghe An will have heavy to very heavy rain and thunderstorms. Rainfall is generally 200 - 300mm, in some places over 350mm.

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development and his delegation inspected Vuc Mau Lake. Photo: Pham Bang

Mau Lake is currently regulating the flow rate at 4 m3/s. Photo: Pham Bang

Faced with that situation, the inspection team of the National Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control went directly to Nghe An to inspect and direct the response to storm No. 8. The team inspected the Vuc Mau reservoir project (Hoang Mai town).

Due to the large amount of water flowing into the lake, in recent days, the Provincial People's Committee has allowed the opening of the spillway to regulate the lake water level down to +19.80m to proactively welcome and prevent floods. The lake water level at 7:00 a.m. on October 13, 2021 was: 20.26 m/21.0 m (MNDBT), currently being regulated with a flow of 4 m³/S.

The inspection team listened to a report on reservoir safety assurance. Photo: Pham Bang

Next, the delegation inspected the Lach Quen anchorage area and the evacuation of people in Quynh Luu district. Up to this point, more than 1,100 fishing vessels of Quynh Luu district have returned to their anchorage. The vessels are mainly anchored in Lach Quen and Lach Thoi, and have been securely secured.

Because the storm is expected to make landfall directly in Nghe An, the Provincial People's Committee has developed 5 scenarios for evacuating coastal residents to avoid storm surges. Currently, the scenario is a level 9 storm combined with a 2 to 3 meter tide, with the planned plan to evacuate 16,200 people on-site; 2,000 people evacuated to other places. In Quynh Luu district, the scenario will evacuate 400 people on-site; in Hoang Mai town, the scenario will evacuate 500 people on-site.

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development and delegation inspected Lach Quen boat anchorage area. Photo: Pham Bang

More than 1,100 fishing boats of Quynh Luu district have returned to safe shelters. Photo: Pham Bang

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development and his delegation also inspected the Yen Xuan embankment project, part of the Ta Lam embankment system, through hamlet 5, Xuan Lam commune, Hung Nguyen district.

The Yen Xuan embankment system is located on a river section with extremely complex hydraulic regime, especially strongly affected by the flow of the Ca River downstream of the Yen Xuan railway bridge.

Yen Xuan embankment system is severely eroded. Photo: Pham Bang

Currently, the riverbed and the foot of the embankment are often deeply eroded, the riverbed elevation reaches about -18.00m, in some places up to -20.00m. Due to the impact of the flood at the end of October 2020, many sections of the embankment have been eroded, especially the embankment section from K76+940 to K77+020 with a length of 80m was completely washed away.