Some dykes at river mouths and seaports in Nghe An are at risk of becoming unsafe during the stormy season.

In early September, when we were present at the Bung River dike in Dien Hoa commune, Dien Chau district, we noticed that the entire dike was small and narrow, mainly built with low, weak soil. Mr. Nguyen Van Tuan, a resident of Dien Hoa commune, expressed: "Every rainy season, the river water easily overflows the dike, causing flooding of summer-autumn rice fields, fish ponds, and many houses of people living along the river."

A representative of Dien Hoa Commune People's Committee said: The Bung River dike running through Dien Hoa Commune is over 7km long and is mostly built with low and small soil. There are currently 7 landslides caused by the 2023 rainy season, and the commune is allocating over 30-40 million VND from the budget to temporarily fix them. In the long term, the State needs to pay attention to investment and upgrading.

Mr. Le The Hieu - Head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Dien Chau district, discussed: Dien Chau area has 45km of river dykes concentrated in the communes of Dien Hoa, Dien Quang, Dien Binh, Dien Thai... Due to difficulties in capital sources, they have not been upgraded. Most of the dyke sections were built manually with soil since the 80s of the last century, now degraded, eroded, and unable to withstand heavy rain and floods.

The same is true in Quynh Luu district, the river and sea dyke systems are also seriously degraded, during the rainy season many people have to suffer from rising water, saltwater intrusion, threatening people's lives.

For example, at the Mai Giang River dike passing through Quynh Thanh Commune (Quynh Luu), there are currently many sections where the dike surface is deformed due to landslides. Mr. Le Van Nam, a resident of Quynh Thanh Commune, shared: "During the rainy and stormy season, the Mai Giang River overflows the damaged dike, flooding shrimp ponds and houses, causing significant damage to people. People hope that the State will soon invest in upgrading the dike to ensure the safety of people's lives and property during the rainy and stormy season."

Mr. Ho Xuan Xuyen - Chairman of Quynh Thanh Commune People's Committee, said: Mai Giang River dike passes through the commune with a length of 3.2km. This dike system plays a very important role, protecting over 70 hectares of local shrimp and thousands of households in neighboring communes such as Quynh Thach, Quynh Doi, Quynh Hau. However, most of them are now degraded, there are currently 4 locations with severe landslides, every year the commune allocates the budget for temporary repairs but during the rainy season, they are washed away.

On the Thai River dike section flowing through Quynh Dien commune, some sections have no dike banks. During the rainy season, river water threatens fields, fish ponds and houses.

According to the report of the People's Committee of Quynh Luu district: The river dike system in the district is over 50km long, including the Thai River dike system, Mo River dike, Ben Hai drainage canal dike, Hau River dike, currently only about 20km have been upgraded, the remaining 30km of river dikes are mainly built with unreinforced soil, only able to withstand high tides and level 6, level 7 storms, river water up to 2.5m high.

Before the rainy season, Quynh Luu district has started dredging the Thai River with a length of 1.5km from Cau Giat - Quynh Luu town to Quynh Hong and Quynh Dien communes to clear the canal and reduce flooding. The district has reviewed the weak river dykes and has a plan to evacuate people to safety during the rainy season.

According to the report of the Irrigation Department, Nghe An has a 129km long river dyke system, these dykes are responsible for flood prevention in the estuaries of Mai Giang, Hoang Mai, Thai and Bung rivers. Currently, over 75km of river dykes have been upgraded, mainly concentrated in Nghi Loc and Quynh Luu districts, while the remaining 54km of river dykes have not been upgraded, many sections have weak dyke foundations, causing landslides during heavy rains and floods.

In addition, Nghe An also has more than 41 km of sea dykes from Quynh Lap commune (Hoang Mai town) to Cua Hoi (Nghi Hai ward, Cua Lo town) that have been basically upgraded, however, some routes have been damaged such as the Quynh Tho and Quynh Long dykes (Quynh Luu) and some locally damaged sea dyke sections passing through Dien Van, Dien Trung, Dien Kim communes (Dien Chau).

To ensure safety during the rainy season, the provincial Irrigation Department recommends that localities review and determine damaged locations to have timely coordination plans during forecasts of heavy rain; have evacuation plans to ensure safety for people..Prepare a "4 on-site" plan to handle incidents. Specifically, prepare to gather rocks, bamboo stakes, and sandbags to be ready to respond when the dike body breaks.

Along with that, localities strengthen inspection and guard forces to detect early dike incidents for handling and rescue right from the first hour, especially at vulnerable dike locations; develop scenarios, plans, and organize the mobilization of forces to promptly respond to incidents and quickly overcome the consequences.