'Big Trung Long fish, or big people's lives and property...?'

Frustrated

The historic flood (October 16, 2019) has passed for 3 days, but hundreds of households in Block 1, Truong Thi Ward and Binh Yen Block, Hung Binh Ward (Vinh City) are still struggling to clean up their belongings and houses. Coming to this place, hundreds of households are the same, in the same frustrated mood.

Nguyen Tai Street - a future walking street - after 3 days of flooding. Photo: Nhat Lan.

Located next to Nguyen Tai Street, the ground-floor house of Mr. Pham Van Hung and Mrs. Nguyen Thi Thin (Group 7, K1, Truong Thi Ward) was submerged more than 1.5 meters deep at the time of the highest flood level, around 1:00 p.m. on October 16. Both of them are old, and Mr. Hung also suffered a stroke and is in a wheelchair, so escaping the flood was extremely difficult.

House of Mrs. Nguyen Thi Thin's family at noon on October 16, 2019. Photo: Contributor

Welcoming us into the house that smelled of mold, helping him sit in a wheelchair, Mrs. Thin said that the flooding had been happening since 2017, but this year was the worst. “Luckily, there was still a son in the house, otherwise both of them would have died without anyone knowing. The heavy rain continued for a long time without any way out, so the water rose too quickly to react. We had to leave our belongings floating away to save him. My son climbed onto the roof, and I carried him on my shoulders and climbed onto the bed. Then someone pulled him, someone helped him up to the attic. Luckily, the neighbors sympathized and gave him food, and the family had a boat ready, so we could go get the food… It was very difficult,” Mrs. Thin said with difficulty.

"During the flood on October 16, a young man in the neighborhood almost drowned while trying to swim to escape the flooded area. Even more dangerous, a grandmother and her grandchild in a rented room were submerged almost to the top of their bodies. Luckily, a rescue boat arrived in time, otherwise their lives would have been in danger."

Mrs. Nguyen Thi Thin - Group 7, K1, Truong Thi Ward

Mrs. Nguyen Thi Thin with her husband who is paralyzed due to a stroke. Photo: Nhat Lan

In Group 5, K1, Truong Thi Ward, Mr. Tran Manh Hung's family was also deeply submerged in floodwaters. "People's property was damaged a lot after the flood. All of the flooding was due to subjective reasons, but many families lost hundreds of millions of dong..." - Mr. Hung said. One of the "subjective" reasons leading to the severe flooding in this area, according to the people, is because the connection point of ditch No. 2 to the Central Park Lake was blocked by a system of embankments, iron nets, pillars..., causing garbage from various places to flow in with the flood, leading to slow drainage.

Flooding at residential area K1, Truong Thi Ward on October 16, 2019. Photo: Contributor

As one of the people who swam to Nai bridge to clear the water, Mr. Pham Van Ha (son of Mrs. Nguyen Thi Thin) said that on October 16, there was a lot of garbage blocking both sides of Nai bridge. “The upper part was blocked because of the fence, and the lower part was blocked because of the iron mesh pillars that had not been removed… Water and garbage from everywhere flooded in, stagnated, and rose high. Therefore, during the night, we cleaned the garbage, even had to swim under the bridge to collect the garbage…”.

To verify the accuracy of the reports, in addition to taking us to the “blockage” points, the local people also gathered for us a lot of images and clips of struggling in flood water, groping under Nai bridge to remove trash at night… that they recorded.

Image of people in K1, Truong Thi Ward cleaning up trash at Nai Bridge at nearly 10:00 p.m. on October 16, 2019. According to people, at this time, the water on many streets had receded, but on Nguyen Tai Street, the water was still a meter deep. Photo: Contributor

People said: “In 2017, we clearly saw the shortcomings that led to local flooding in this place. Among the shortcomings, there was the situation of embankment, support posts, and iron nets at the connection point of sewer No. 2 (level 1 canal of Vinh City) with the Central Park Lake. Renting the lake, erecting posts, and blocking iron nets to raise fish like that is extremely unreasonable, so there was a petition sent to the ward and the city, but it has not been completely resolved. I don’t know if the Trung Long fish is big or the lives and property of the people are big…”.

At noon on October 16, rescue boats had to be mobilized to rescue people on Nguyen Tai Street. Photo: Source: Facebook Hanh Tran

There is a blockage in the net, causing blockage.

There are 3 “blockage” points related to Central Park Lake that the locals took us to “to reflect accurately”. Location 1 is the connection point of ditch number 2 with Nai bridge; location 2 is the point where Nai bridge connects to Central Park Lake; location 3 is the drainage gate of Central Park Lake to Vinh river.

The connection point of canal No. 2 with Nai bridge has an iron fence system causing garbage congestion. Photo: Nhat Lan

At location 1, there is still a round steel fence, exactly the same length as Nai bridge; location 2, the B40 steel mesh has been cut off, but there are still many iron support posts; location 3, there is a cement embankment protruding from the lake surface, on which there is only an unfinished B40 steel mesh.

Nai bridge connecting to Central Park lake is crisscrossed with iron support piles, causing traffic jams and garbage congestion. Photo: Nhat Lan

Discussing this issue, an officer of the Vinh City Management and Investment Department sent us two documents No. 4506/UBND-QLDT dated July 31, 2019, and Document No. 5243/UBND-QLDT dated September 4, 2019, with the content of directing the handling of the trash screen of Central Park Lake. Then, he said that when receiving feedback from people about Trung Long Joint Stock Company installing ditch screen No. 2 into Central Park Lake, reducing drainage capacity and causing flooding in the area when there was heavy rain, he inspected the actual situation. After that, he advised the leaders of the City People's Committee to issue a document requesting Trung Long Joint Stock Company to remove the screen before August 15, 2019; at the same time, he directed Vinh Urban Infrastructure Management and Development Joint Stock Company and related wards to supervise. In case this company does not comply, they will directly proceed with the removal.

Document No. 5243/UBND-QLDT dated September 4, 2019 of Vinh City People's Committee directing the handling of the trash screen of Central Park Lake. Photo: Nhat Lan

On September 2 and 3, 2019, there were continuous heavy rains. Vinh City People's Committee inspected and discovered that Trung Long Joint Stock Company had not yet removed the iron nets. Due to the obstruction of the iron nets, the garbage piled up into walls, reducing by 50%.drainage capacity. Therefore, there was a document directing Vinh Urban Infrastructure Management and Development Joint Stock Company and Truong Thi Ward People's Committee to urgently remove the barriers on September 4, 2019. The representative of the Urban Management Department said: "On September 4, 2019, when cutting the steel mesh and breaking the barriers, Trung Long Joint Stock Company did not agree. Only the Vice Chairman of Vinh City People's Committee Le Sy Chien directly directed to do it...".

Vinh City People's Committee cut the steel mesh to block trash at Central Park Lake on September 4, 2019. Photo: Provided by Vinh City Urban Management Department.

Explaining the concerns of the people to us on October 19, 2019, this person affirmed that the Central Park Lake is not under the management of Trung Long Joint Stock Company but is managed by Vinh City People's Committee. Regarding the people's reflections, the Department will receive them to continue advising Vinh City People's Committee to direct relevant wards and units to handle them.

There are other negative effects!

Joining us on a field survey on October 19, 2019, was an urban officer of Truong Thi Ward, Mr. Doan Xuan Hung. According to Mr. Hung, after the flood in 2017, realizing that drainage into ditch No. 2 in area K1 was too limited, the People's Committee of Truong Thi Ward proposed to the city to allow investment in installing a drainage manhole system. The manhole system has been built. However, the reality is that dredging and cleaning the manholes has not been given due attention, so their full effectiveness has not been achieved.

Tables, chairs, motorbikes, and household appliances of a household in Group 1, Truong Thi Ward floating and submerged in floodwater on October 16, 2019. Photo: Contributor

Because of the reflection on the situation of garbage from many places overflowing into the Nai bridge area on October 16, 2019, causing hundreds of households in Group 5 to contribute 50,000 VND/household, Group 7 to contribute 20,000 VND/household to hire people to transport the garbage, we focused on investigating. Thereby, it was determined that at the level 2 and level 3 ditches connecting to ditch No. 2, there were no nets to block and collect garbage. Therefore, although it is a drainage ditch, in addition to wastewater, there is also garbage from many residential areas in the wards where ditch No. 2 runs through to the Nai bridge area, leading to the situation of garbage stuck in the ditch, garbage congestion on the road.

As of the morning of October 19, garbage from everywhere was still floating on the Nai Bridge canal. Photo: Contributor

Regarding Vinh Urban Infrastructure Management and Development Joint Stock Company, when discussed, they confirmed that cleaning manholes is their responsibility, however, due to human resources and materialsDue to limited resources, it has not been fully and regularly implemented. Regarding waste treatment at the connection points of level 2 and level 3 ditches with ditch line 2, the Company has noted the comments for research and implementation.

Previously, after the flood on the night of October 9th and early morning of October 10th, 2017, many households in Block 1, Truong Thi Ward and Binh Yen Ward, Hung Binh Ward had to take their cars and motorbikes for repair. Photo: Contributor

It must be affirmed that, with heavy rain like on October 16, 2019, like many residential areas in the city, Block 1, Truong Thi Ward and Binh Yen Block, Hung Binh Ward will not be able to avoid flooding. However, the deep and long-lasting flooding in Cau Nai area has been happening continuously for 3 years now, (flooding on October 10, 2017, December 8, 2018 and the peak was the flood on October 16, 2019) leading to the misery of the people, due to subjective reasons. Therefore, it needs to be thoroughly handled. And it must be added that the Central Park Lake needs to be clean to beautify the landscape, but must absolutely ensure drainage during the rainy season!