Nghe An: Risk of flood on flood, people are miserable

(Baonghean.vn)- Many residential areas in Nghe An province are submerged in floodwaters, thousands of houses are flooded, livestock and poultry are swept away, fish and crops are lost. Before people can recover, another storm is about to hit.

Heavy damage

During the 3 days from October 9-12, heavy rain in Nghe An province due to the influence of a tropical depression flooded almost the entire province. Of which, Vinh city was the most flooded with rainfall measured at over 400mm.

Mr. Bui Huu Nhung, Deputy Head of the Office of the Flood and Storm Prevention Command of Nghe An province, said: The rainfall from October 9 to October 12 reached 400mm in many localities. Specifically, some places are as follows: Con Cuong 166.0mm; Nghia Dan 230.5mm; Nam Dan 354.0mm; Vinh 401.0mm; Quy Hop 177.0mm, Thanh Chuong 392.0mm; Quynh Luu 400.0mm; Cua Hoi 278.0mm.

Hung Nguyen, many hamlets are isolated. Photo: Sach Nguyen.

Heavy rain caused flooding on the Ca River. The water level at Nam Dan hydrological station at 4:00 p.m. on October 12, 2017 was 6.27 m (0.63 m below alert level II).

Nghe An is like a vast sea of ​​water, the lives of the people are miserable in every way. There are 9 communes that are isolated: Hung Nguyen district (Hung Nhan commune, Hung Loi commune, Hung Lam commune); Tan Ky district (Ky Tan commune, Huong Son commune, Tan An, Phu Son commune, Tien Ky commune, Dong Van commune) and 3,605 households are flooded, (Hung Nguyen: 639, Quynh Luu: 2112, Quy Hop 171, Quy Chau 42, Tan Ky 510, Thanh Chuong 15, Anh Son 149, Tuong Duong 7, Dien Chau 60)...

This morning, October 13, the rainfall in Vinh city reached nearly 100mm, the situation is complicated.

Quy Hop residents transport livestock to safety. Photo: Minh Nguyet

533/625 dams are full. Some dams had incidents overnight that had to be handled, such as: Trai Ga Dam, Nghi Van Commune, Nghi Loc District, Da Han Dam, Nam Dan District, etc. According to incomplete reports, 9 people died due to being swept away by floodwaters during the recent low pressure period.

Nghi Loc residents save Trai Ga dam from overflowing at night. Photo: Nguyen Phe.

Provincial leaders and sectors are urgently going to flooded areas to rescue and evacuate people.

Vinh City has just suffered the most historic flood in the past 10 years. Never before has the city been flooded so severely in so many places and for so long. People in Vinh market lost billions of dong in a rainy night when the flood rose like a great flood, almost reaching the roof of the market. Before the damage could be dealt with, the rain poured down again, making the situation even more dire.

Vinh market has just experienced a great flood, but the rain and floods are coming again, making traders extremely worried. Photo: Quang An.

Ms. Le Thi Ninh, a stall owner in the west of Vinh market, worriedly said: We have not yet processed all the goods that were severely damaged after the recent flood, and now the heavy rain and floods have come and we cannot do any business. For the past three days, no customers have come to buy. Today we plan to move all the goods to storage and then, depending on the weather, we will resume business. Today, many small traders have closed their kiosks and stopped selling….

According to observations on the morning of October 13, many traders in the West of Vinh market - the most heavily flooded area - have packed up their goods and closed their kiosks tightly, in preparation for sudden rain and floods.

Vegetable farmers in Nghi An and Hung Dong communes, Vinh city are also very worried about the upcoming floods. Ms. Nguyen Thi Hien, Vinh Xuan hamlet, Hung Dong commune said: Many of our cabbage fields have been completely destroyed, the weather has been rainy for the past few days so we have not been able to replant the land. Now that floods are piling up on top of floods, the farmers are left with nothing.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Hien - Agricultural officer of Nghi An commune, Vinh city said: Hearing the news of floods on top of floods and the storm No. 11 about to make landfall, the commune directed people to quickly harvest the vegetable areas that can be harvested, move young ornamental plants to high places. Livestock farmers checked their barns and moved their livestock to safe places. In addition, people are advised not to risk their lives fishing or catching fish along ditches and rivers to avoid danger.

Fishing village on Vinh River has been miserable in recent days. Photo: Van Truong

Floods have caused misery to the people of Hoang Mai, Quynh Luu, Dien Chau... for many days now. The water has not yet subsided and now it continues to rain and storm.

Shrimp farming areas in Dien Chau have been continuously lost due to storms and tropical depressions in the past few days. Photo: Mai Giang

Shrimp ponds of farmers in Dien Chau, Quynh Luu, and Hoang Mai were wiped out in storm No. 10. Now, heavy rains in the past few days have completely destroyed some of Dien Chau's shrimp farming areas.

Ponds in Dien Trung, Dien Thinh - Dien Chau that were about to harvest shrimp were all washed away by the flood. Mr. Le The Hieu, Head of the Department of Agriculture of Dien Chau district, said that the damage from 16 hectares of shrimp and 330 hectares of fish farming that were flooded together was worth up to 20 billion VND.

Mr. Le Minh Chau, owner of an anchovy drying facility in Quyet Tien village, Quynh Lap commune, also said: The recent heavy rain caused many drying facilities to face difficulties because the amount of dried fish that had not yet dried had to be put in the freezer. Fish that is too wet cannot be stored for long. Now that it continues to rain continuously like this, it is impossible to dry the fish, so it is very easy for the fish to spoil.

Rain and floods have submerged many communes in Nam Dan and Hung Nguyen, with fish overflowing their banks. Mr. Nguyen Canh Bay, hamlet 5, Nam Thuong commune, said that during the rains from October 9 to October 12, all of his and his neighbors' fish ponds were lost. Nearly 400 hectares of fish from the third crop in Nam Dan were completely lost.

Water is rising strongly outside the Vinh River dike. Photo: Hoang An.

There are still shortcomings and subjectivity

The recent storm and flood have also exposed shortcomings in storm prevention work in the locality. That is also the subjective spirit in storm prevention work of both the people and the locality. Small traders in Cua Lo and Cua Hoi were still outside their stalls and shops when the storm arrived, without a plan to clean up their goods and belongings before the storm arrived.

In Vinh city, the drainage system has many shortcomings. According to Mr. Huynh Thanh Dien, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, the drainage system still has many shortcomings. The city's flood and storm prevention plan is unclear and not proactive. The traders at Vinh market and the Vinh market management board are still subjective in flood prevention and the city must learn from this experience.

In some localities, dike prevention and monitoring work needs to be more vigilant because dike landslides have occurred in many places....

Currently, the concern of Vinh city residents is the situation of water not being able to drain when the water levels of Vinh River and Lam River are equal and the water level of Lam River is rising.

Raise vigilance, focus on urgent tasks

Comrade Dinh Viet Hong, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, said: The situation is complicated, localities are implementing well the telegrams of the Central Flood and Storm Prevention Command and the province.

Closely coordinate with local irrigation companies to operate maximum capacity of drainage pumping stations, drainage culverts, and drainage canals to promptly drain water for urban areas, residential areas, and agricultural production.

By all means, promptly notify authorities at all levels, people, organizations operating on rivers and riverbanks; aquaculture facilities on rivers, water transport vehicles; ferry terminals; production and business activities, sand and gravel exploitation of information on emergency flood discharge from hydroelectric reservoirs to proactively take appropriate preventive measures, ensuring safety of people and property.

Be ready to deploy flood prevention plans to ensure safety for downstream areas, especially the dike system, residential areas on riverbanks, low-lying areas, areas at high risk of landslides and flash floods to be ready to deploy response. Organize patrols and guard, especially at vulnerable locations or locations that have been damaged by recent storms and floods to ensure dike safety.

At this time, the lakes in the province have been filled with water. Chairmen of People's Committees of districts and towns, directors of irrigation companies are required to increase patrols and guards, promptly detect and handle incidents.

Traders at Vinh market move goods to store when they hear that storm No. 11 is coming. Photo: QA

Continue to deploy plans to prevent flash floods, landslides; warn people about locations at risk of landslides, underground tunnels, overflows, and traffic jams; mobilize vehicles and forces to be on guard to direct traffic, provide warnings, and close roads to ensure safety. People are strictly prohibited from fishing or collecting firewood on the river during floods.

The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development directed relevant units and organized working groups to coordinate with localities to urgently inspect and review key vulnerable points in the entire dike system and reservoirs, especially locations where dike and dam incidents occurred during storm No. 10, small reservoirs at risk of being unsafe, and reservoirs that were full of water; focusing on drainage to prevent flooding.

Request Vinh city to urgently fix the landslide incident of the low canal dike, proactively evacuate people to safe places, mobilize military and police forces to support and coordinate the handling.

The North Central Region Hydrometeorological Station closely monitors weather and flood conditions and provides timely information for people to know and take precautions....

PV Group