It has been nearly a week since the flood passed, but the family of Mr. Le Sy Tuan and Mrs. Cao Thi Ha in Dong Phau village, Chau Binh commune are still shocked when talking about the flood that suddenly came at night. Their level 4 house is located low and close to the foot of Co Ba bridge. At about 1:00 a.m., water began to flood the yard. The water rose quickly in a state of shock and helplessness. Only 30 minutes later, at about 1:30 a.m., the water had risen to half the wall of the level 4 house. By nearly 4:00 a.m., the water had risen to the roof. At that time, only Mr. Tuan, Mrs. Ha and their two young grandchildren were at home. Seeing the water rising at such a terrible speed, the couple could only lock the door, hold their grandchildren and try to run through the rushing water to the main road. "If we had been a few minutes later, we would have been swept away by the flood..." - Mrs. Cao Thi Ha recalled the moment that night.
According to Ms. Ha, in 2009, there was a big flood here, but it was still about 2m lower than this year's flood. She took us to visit the garden, the pig and chicken farm; everything was in a state of devastation. The solidly built pig and chicken coops were knocked down and buried. Showing pictures and clips recorded by neighbors, Ms. Ha said that the flood swept away her family's 50 chickens, 5 pigs, including 2 pigs weighing about 50kg and 3 piglets. Regarding the house and belongings, after the water receded, everything was buried in mud, fortunately, Chau Binh commune cadres, youth union members and many people gathered to clean up. Listening to his wife tell the story of the flood, Mr. Le Sy Tuan said: “The cause of the flood was clearly heavy rain, but the rapid rise in water level could also have been caused by hydroelectric plants “opening the dams” to release floodwaters. It was terrible, only now have we come to our senses…”.
Also in Dong Phau village, Ms. Nguyen Thi Hai (60 years old) has a house within the area of the auxiliary dam of the Ban Mong Reservoir Project that has been cleared. Because there is no resettlement land yet, and most of her assets are still in her old house, Ms. Hai often stays here to look after it. Luckily for Ms. Hai, at around 10:30 pm on September 26, it was raining heavily, so she went to her grandmother's house above to sleep. After midnight, she heard a series of loud noises like a landslide. She ran out to the porch to look at her house and saw that the walls and fences had been washed away by the water. Water from above rushed in, flowed across the temporary road, and then poured down to her house and several neighboring houses...
On October 1, arriving at Minh Tien village, Chau Tien commune, Chau Thang Hydropower Plant was still operating to release floodwaters. In the village, every house bore the marks of the flood on the morning of September 27, because most of the families here suffered damage. The family that suffered the most damage in Minh Tien village was probably the family of Nguyen Thi Tam and Phung Huu Phu. Tam said that on the afternoon of September 26, Phu was still fishing on the river like normal days. It rained heavily in the evening, but she and her husband did not pay attention. At dawn, at about 3:15 a.m., when they heard the flood discharge siren from Chau Thang Hydropower Plant, the couple quickly got up and ran to the back of the house to pull up the pump, but the water was already freezing.
The water flowed like a waterfall, rising very quickly. Normally, the water would pour down from Chau Tien bridge, but in the early morning of September 27, the water flowed down from the hydroelectric plant, flowing back up to Chau Tien bridge. Hurriedly running into the house to call the children to run to school to avoid the flood, when he came back out, the water had reached the yard. Mr. Phu only had time to open the barn door for the pigs to run away, but the chickens had to give up. But at that moment, the house was flooded more than 1 meter. At this time, around 3:30 a.m., Ms. Tam had to hold her husband's neck so he could swim to the houses above to avoid the flood. About 30 minutes later, her house below was completely submerged in water; and the house above, it was flooded up to the ancestral altar.
The cases of the three households mentioned above are just a small part of the story of thousands of people suffering from the recent floods in Quy Chau district. On September 27, newspapers and social networks flooded with information and images of houses, roads, and fields submerged in water; and scenes of people struggling with floods. In many of those images, the image of students having to remove roof tiles to escape the floodwaters is imprinted in the minds of those who are concerned.
Teacher Le Quoc Khanh - Vice Principal of Quy Chau High School is one of the teachers who participated in rescuing students in the early morning of September 27. Teacher Khanh said that Quy Chau High School has more than 400 students, including students living in the school's dormitory and staying at local people's houses, who suffered from floods and needed help. Teacher Khanh also confirmed that the image of the students removing the roof to escape the flood was the school's students. He said that in their sleep, they realized that the water was rising quickly, so they shouted to each other to run away. But when they escaped, they realized that they had not yet rescued their school supplies and clothes, so they returned home. After that, they were trapped, forced to remove the roof tiles to escape, then climbed over the fence to escape into the school.
“The children suffered heavy losses. They lost everything…” – Mr. Khanh said. According to him, the flood came at around 4am. It was raining heavily, but because 3 hydroelectric plants were releasing floodwaters, the water rose very quickly, and people did not have time to run. In the school alone, the houses of 4 teachers’ families were submerged in floodwater, and expensive items such as cars and motorbikes could not be saved. Quy Chau High School has 2 dormitories, and the children here also suffered heavy losses. Everything from clothes, books to rice and salt… was damaged.
In Chau Binh commune, according to the Party Secretary of the commune, Le Van Toan, 8 villages were severely flooded, of which 3 villages, Ke Khoang, Ke Can, and Dong Phau, were the most severely affected. Mr. Toan stated that Chau Binh suffered from severe flooding due to two reasons: “Flooding in remote villages like Ke Can was caused by heavy rains pouring down from above. As for villages along National Highway 48 like Ke Khoang, Dong Phau, etc., the impact was due to the water of the Hieu River rising too quickly.”
Mr. Le Van Toan also added that there are many unfinished works in the Ban Mong Irrigation Reservoir project in the area. For example, in Dong Phau village, there is an unfinished auxiliary dam, when the flood from above causes blockage of the flow, the water is trapped, leading to flooding in residential areas. If the works in the Ban Mong Irrigation Reservoir project in Chau Binh commune were completed, the people would certainly not be affected like that...
Chau Tien Commune is located near the basin of 3 rivers Quang, Nam Viec, Nam Hat, low terrain, favorable for agricultural production but high risk of flooding. Therefore, officials and people are familiar with annual flooding to be proactive. Right on the night of September 26 and early morning of September 27, all officials of Chau Tien Commune and related forces stayed up all night, from 2 am they knocked on the doors of every house to report the flood.
According to Chau Tien Commune Party Secretary Tran Van Hung, this year's flood was beyond the expectations of the commune as well as the people, because the water rose very quickly, leading to surprise. Regarding the cause, everyone determined it was due to the unusual weather, but some people thought it could be due to the hydroelectric dam releasing floodwaters. Faced with this situation, the commune discussed with the people that this issue needed to be checked and determined by experts; at the same time, it reported to superiors to study the construction of embankments in places at risk of landslides...
Asked about the work of forecasting and notifying the hydroelectric plant of flood discharge, according to Mr. Tran Van Hung, the commune only received a notification by phone from Chau Thang Hydroelectric Plant at 4 am that the flood would be discharged. However, the Secretary of Chau Tien Commune Party Committee also added that in Chau Tien Commune, there are some people working in the hydroelectric plant, and they have informed the commune in advance that the hydroelectric plant may discharge flood tonight. "Therefore, we have anticipated the situation in advance to mobilize forces to be on duty in time..." - Mr. Tran Van Hung said.
From September 26 to September 27, 2023, Prime Que Phong Joint Stock Company continuously sent 3 notices of flood discharge operation of Chau Thang Hydropower Reservoir to the Provincial People's Committee, the Provincial Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control - Search and Rescue; People's Committees of Que Phong and Quy Chau districts; Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control of Ban Mong Reservoir.
In Notice No. 67/TB-PQP dated September 26, 2023, Prime Que Phong Joint Stock Company provided forecast information from the National Center for Hydrometeorology; at the same time, based on the current actual situation, the flow into the reservoir tends to increase, to plan the flood discharge operation of Chau Thang Hydropower Reservoir. Specifically, Prime Que Phong Joint Stock Company announced the reservoir flood discharge operation plan expected at 4:00 a.m. on September 27, 2023; the total discharge flow from 76 m3/s to 450 m3/s (including discharge flow through valve gates and generation flow through generators).
On September 27, 2023, Prime Que Phong Joint Stock Company continued to issue Notice No. 68/TB-PQP on: Flood discharge operation of Chau Thang Hydropower Reservoir, announcing the reservoir flood discharge operation plan expected at 4:00 a.m. on September 27, 2023. However, due to the sudden increase in water flow to the reservoir and Nhan Hac Hydropower Plant's emergency discharge according to Notice No. 27/9/2023/TB-NMNH at 2:00 a.m. on September 27, 2023, Chau Thang Hydropower Plant carried out emergency flood discharge at 2:35 a.m. on September 27, 2023; total discharge flow from 76 m3/s to 1,200 m3/S.
Also on September 27, 2023, Prime Que Phong Joint Stock Company issued Notice No. 69/TB-POP on the increased discharge of Chau Thang Hydropower Reservoir. Accordingly, due to heavy rain in the basin of Chau Thang Hydropower Reservoir; the water flow into the reservoir tends to increase, so the expected discharge level downstream may reach 2,500m3/s; expected time of increased discharge from 8:30 a.m., September 27, 2023…
In all three announcements above, Prime Que Phong Joint Stock Company has a responsible conclusion: "We would like to inform the units to implement response measures to ensure safety of people and property".
According to the Standing Office of the Provincial Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control - Search and Rescue, Prime Que Phong Joint Stock Company announced that the flood discharge operation of Chau Thang Hydropower Reservoir did not comply with regulations. Specifically, as mentioned: Notice No. 67/TB-PQP was issued by Prime Que Phong Joint Stock Company at 23:42 on September 26; here, the flood discharge operation report was at 4:00 a.m. on September 27 with a discharge flow of 76m3/s to 450m3/s. However, at 2:38 a.m. on September 27, Notice No. 68/TB-PQP stated that Nhan Hac Hydropower Plant should discharge water at 2:35 a.m. with the discharge volume increased to 1,200m3/s. At 6:56 a.m., there was another Notice No. 69/TB-PQP, expected to increase the discharge level to 2,500m3 at 8:30 a.m.3/s downstream. “According to regulations, the flood discharge operation announcement must be issued at least 4 hours before the flood discharge…” – an officer from the Standing Office of the Provincial Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention, Control and Search and Rescue discussed.
Question: The hydropower plant announced flood discharge at midnight and from 2-3am, then operated the flood discharge before the prescribed time. So, how do people know to promptly take "response measures to ensure safety of people and property"? The only answer received was: "The Provincial Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control - Search and Rescue has sent a document to the hydropower plant owners to rectify the flood discharge operation" (?!).
On October 4, 2023, the People's Committee of Quy Chau district issued Report No. 37/BC-UBND summarizing the damage caused by the tropical depression from September 26-27. Regarding the damage, there was 1 drowned person, Mr. Lu Van Khuyen (born in 1952), residing in Hoa Tien 1 village, Chau Tien commune, Quy Chau district, whose body was found at 12:30 on September 29, 2023; more than 5,000 people had to be evacuated to a safe place. There was 1 house completely collapsed (in Chau Nga commune), 1,371 houses/30 blocks and villages were flooded. National Highway 48A with a length of about 44 km was cut off at 8 points; National Highway 48D had 8 landslides of hundreds of cubic meters of soil and rock; Provincial Road 544, about 34 km long, had 3 landslides at Bu Xen slope; Chau Thuan - Chau Hoi road was eroded at 3 points; many main roads of communes were eroded, cutting off many villages; all spillways in the district were completely flooded. Many irrigation works were eroded, washed away, and damaged, such as the small reservoir of Huoi Hung; Minh Chau embankment...
The entire Quy Chau district had 40 low-voltage poles and 5 medium-voltage poles broken; 3 transformer stations and 2 remote power switchboards were flooded. 15 Vinaphone BTS stations and 7 Viettel stations were damaged and lost signal. 36/36 schools had to close; 14,906 students had to stay home due to the heavy rain, including more than 100 students from Quy Chau High School who were staying in dormitories, and in households who lost all their books and school supplies; 5 schools and 4 medical stations in Chau Tien, Chau Thang, Chau Hoi and Chau Binh communes were deeply submerged in water. The floods damaged 850.48 hectares of summer-autumn rice, 123.29 hectares of crops and 190.79 hectares of aquatic products; 234.45 hectares of annual crops were submerged and broken; 776 cattle, buffaloes, cows, pigs and 23,032 poultry died. Many agencies, units and households suffered damage to electronic equipment, household appliances, cars, motorbikes... The total estimated damage in the entire Quy Chau district is up to 177,331 million VND.
In Report No. 37/BC-UBND, Quy Chau district determined that the damage was caused by the impact of a tropical depression from September 26, 2023 to September 27, 2023, with heavy to very heavy rain, with rainfall measured at over 310mm, and large floods upstream. At the same time, hydropower plants such as Nhan Hac, Chau Thang, and Nam Pong discharged floodwaters with a flow of 2,000 - 2,500 m3.3/s, causing widespread flooding throughout the district. Therefore, along with the recommendation to the Provincial People's Committee, provincial departments, branches and sectors to consider early support for damage recovery costs, the People's Committee of Quy Chau district also requested the Provincial People's Committee to support and assess the cause of the flood, including reviewing the flood discharge process of hydropower plants in the flood discharge on September 27, 2023.
As the person on duty to direct flood response in the early morning of September 27, Mr. Luong Thanh Trung - Vice Chairman of Chau Thang Commune People's Committee said that on the night of September 26, there was heavy rain in the area, the river water rose, but it had not yet affected households. At around 2am, receiving information from the Chairman of the Commune People's Committee that the hydroelectric plant was releasing floodwaters, he urgently assigned police and militia to be on duty and notify the people. At around 3am, when he learned that the hydroelectric plant was releasing more floodwaters, there was a power outage, lost telecommunications network, lost mobile signal, so the commune's on-duty forces had to split up to go to each house to warn; mobilize police and militia to support people and schools to rescue property. At around 4am, the river water rose rapidly, flooding into residential areas, many households did not have time to pack up, only had time to run away to save people...
“In Chau Thang commune, heavy rain causes power outages, phone and internet signals are lost, so announcing flood discharge at midnight causes many difficulties for the locality in mobilizing forces as well as informing the people. Therefore, it is necessary to have a suitable operation plan, from flood forecasting, announcing flood discharge time so that people and authorities can be proactive in prevention and mitigation of damage…” – Vice Chairman of Chau Thang Commune People’s Committee, Mr. Luong Thanh Trung urgently said.
The discussion of the Vice Chairman of Chau Thang Commune People's Committee is appropriate; and the proposal of Quy Chau District People's Committee to the Provincial People's Committee to direct the assessment of the cause of the flood and review the flood discharge process of hydropower plants on September 27, 2023 is necessary. Because Chau Thang Hydropower Plant and Nhan Hac Hydropower Plant belong to the group of hydropower plants that must strictly comply with the inter-reservoir operation process on the Ca River basin, in Decision No. 1605/QD-TTg dated November 13, 2019 of the Prime Minister. And because only when the cause is correctly assessed and the existence is clarified can there be solutions to prevent natural disasters and minimize pain and loss...