Nghe An: Dozens of tons of longan fruit cracked open, over 100 hectares of spring onions flattened after heavy rain.

Do Luong: Dozens of tons of longan fruit cracked and fell off due to prolonged heavy rain.

The prolonged heavy rains across a wide area not only flooded rice paddies and other crops in Do Luong district but also caused hundreds of longan trees, which were in the fruiting stage, to crack and drop their fruit.

Hundreds of longan trees, ready for harvest, have cracked and fallen fruit. Photo: Huu Hoan

According to local people, this is the biggest longan harvest ever. Almost all the longan trees are laden with fruit, yielding two to three times more fruit than last year, and the harvest is just 15 days away.

However, heavy rains from July 15-18 caused hundreds of longan trees in Do Luong district to crack and lose their fruit; the estimated damage amounts to tens of tons of fruit, equivalent to hundreds of millions of VND.

Huu Hoan

Over 100 hectares of spring onion fields in Quynh Luu have been flattened.

Of the 240 hectares of land used for vegetable production in the summer of 2018, Quynh Luong commune allocated approximately 80% to spring onions. Due to heavy rains in recent days, nearly 80 hectares of spring onions have been flattened.

Currently, hundreds of households growing spring onions in Quynh Luong commune are urgently heading to the fields to care for and harvest their crops.

Mr. Nguyen Van Phuc's family in Quynh Luong commune is urgently harvesting spring onions to "escape" the storm. Looking at more than one sao (approximately 1000 square meters) of spring onions flattened to the ground, Mr. Phuc lamented:The heavy rains over the past few days have flattened all the onions, making harvesting difficult and time-consuming. Now, whatever we can salvage will help offset the production costs."

In Quynh Luong commune, approximately 80 hectares of spring onions were flattened, reducing yield and value. Photo: Viet Hung.

Mr. Nguyen Van Tue, Chairman of the People's Committee of Quynh Luong commune, said that after receiving an urgent telegram from the District People's Committee directing people to focus on caring for and protecting vegetables and crops during stormy weather, the locality advised farmers to harvest early, prioritizing harvesting in time to transport them to wholesale markets nationwide.

In Quynh Minh commune, heavy rains also affected about 50 hectares of vegetable crops, mainly spring onions. Ms. Nguyen Thi Minh, a vegetable farmer, said: "Currently, people are urgently harvesting spring onions because, due to the heavy rain, the purchase price is lower than 3,000 VND/kg. Those who had just planted spring onions had all their crops ruined by the rain and are waiting for the rain to stop before replanting."

Farmers in Quynh Luong commune (Quynh Luu district) harvest vegetables to escape the storm. Photo: Viet Hung

Besides spring onions, some areas of vegetables that are fetching good prices, such as lettuce, coriander (8,000 VND/kg), and mustard greens (4,000 VND/kg), are also being urgently harvested by people in Quynh Luu district to minimize damage caused by storms and heavy rain.

Viet Hung

Dien Chau focuses on draining floodwaters.

With nearly 200mm of rainfall due to the low-pressure system in recent days, 2,500 hectares of crops across Dien Chau district, including 600 hectares of rice and nearly 2,000 hectares of other crops, have been flooded.

Large rice paddies in Dien Cat commune are submerged in water. Photo: Mai Giang

In addition, the risk of flooding in aquaculture areas such as Dien Trung and Dien Van is very high.

Accordingly, from the district to the commune level, measures to prevent waterlogging for crops have been quickly implemented; the Dien Thanh sluice gate has been put into operation to ensure drainage for thousands of hectares of rice fields, and forces and equipment have been mobilized to clear the waterway on the Bung River...