Yen Thanh urgently harvests summer-autumn rice to avoid floods
(Baonghean.vn) -This morning, September 7, in Yen Thanh district, the rain was light, but in the fields of low-lying communes: Khanh Thanh, Long Thanh, Vinh Thanh, Vien Thanh, Nam Thanh, Trung Thanh... the summer-autumn rice crop was still submerged in water until harvest day.
Returning to Khanh Thanh commune after an afternoon of pouring rain, the Vu Giang river has receded about 30 cm, but the water level in the fields is almost 1 meter deeper than yesterday. People in 6 hamlets here are still isolated, students are having to continue to stay home because traffic is cut off and the water has flooded the school yard up to 40 cm. The elderly who were moved to a safe place by the local authorities and their children are still unable to return home.
The harvested rice was also soaked in water.
Mr. Phan Van Hai - Chairman of Khanh Thanh Commune People's Committee, said that by the morning of September 7, all 328 hectares of summer-autumn rice were flooded (of which 1/3 of the area had been harvested), 2/3 were flooded from 1 - 1.5 m deep. The dyke along Vu Giang canal and Bien Hoa canal had 7 landslides. The entire fish pond of the commune was lost; thousands of poultry were swept away by the flood, including 60 young pigs washed away by Mr. Nam's farm in Phu Tap hamlet. Currently, 6 hamlets are still isolated by the flood.
In Khanh Thanh, there was a case of Mr. Hung in Phu Van hamlet. On the afternoon of September 5, his whole family went to the field and harvested 2 sao of rice, which they bundled and left on the bank. Before they could bring it home, the flood came at midnight on September 6 and washed it all away. Even the families who were able to bring the rice home were left in the water.
Mr. Nguyen Dinh Minh, who has a farm in the rice field area of Phu Van hamlet, grows 8 sao of summer-autumn rice, 1,000 m2 of fish pond; when the flood came, all of his assets were considered lost. Mr. Minh took off his shirt and waded into the rice field, the water was up to his head, meaning the rice was 1.5 m deep. Having lived with floods since childhood, Mr. Minh learned from experience that when the river water recedes, the water in the fields rises and vice versa. With weather conditions like this, Khanh Thanh's rice will be submerged in water for at least 5 more days. Therefore, when the water recedes, the rice stalks are covered with alluvium, the rice grains germinate, and it is considered a total loss. According to Khanh Thanh residents, this flood was not that big, but because the flood came too quickly, and at midnight, there was no time to react.
Mr. Le Cong Dau - Chairman of Long Thanh Commune People's Committee, quickly informed: The whole commune has 750 hectares of summer-autumn rice that are ready for harvest, expected to reach 52 quintals/ha, people have only harvested 15% of the area but now it is deeply submerged. Some fields are flooded up to nearly 2 meters deep. By the morning of September 7, 17/17 hamlets of the commune were completely isolated by water, most of the households had their houses flooded. Due to difficult travel, the local government has just approached some extremely poor families near the commune People's Committee to support instant noodles. According to statistics, Long Thanh currently has nearly 400 families in difficult circumstances, in need of urgent support.
Thousands of hectares of summer-autumn rice in Yen Thanh are submerged in water, creating a fishing ground for people.
According to the report of the district's Department of Agriculture, by noon on September 7, the entire district had 13 communes damaged by this flood. 4,854 hectares of winter-spring rice and summer-autumn rice were flooded. Of these, about 17 hectares of rice in My Thanh and 40 hectares of rice in Quang Thanh were confirmed to be completely lost because they were flowering during the flood. A power transformer station in Phu Thanh commune was burned; Highway 7 was flooded through Cong Thanh, Khanh Thanh, and Vinh Thanh communes, making it impossible for vehicles to pass; Highways 538 and 534 were also flooded in many sections. 3,242 poultry and livestock were killed and swept away, 332.4 hectares of ponds and lakes were flooded. Many sections of Vinh Vien dike, Vu Giang dike, and Song Dinh dike... were flooded and eroded. Roads to the center of Hung Thanh, Kim Thanh, and Minh Thanh communes... were also eroded, with a volume of thousands of cubic meters. In Nam Thanh commune, two people were injured, Mr. Nguyen Huu Minh and Mr. Nguyen Van Chau, both from Lam Thanh hamlet, while transporting livestock to avoid the flood.
Mr. Nguyen Tien Loi - Chairman of Yen Thanh District People's Committee, said: This flood has caused great damage to Yen Thanh people, especially thousands of hectares of summer-autumn rice that were thought to be safe, but were seriously flooded. The solution to overcome the consequences of Yen Thanh's floods is to assign 24/7 duty to closely monitor the flood situation. The District People's Committee issued an urgent telegram to direct flood prevention and control. Assign comrades in the steering committee to inspect the base. Assign the District Military Command to go to weak and isolated areas to promptly support people. Assign the Chairmen of the People's Committees of communes to implement the 4-on-the-spot policy. Mobilize machinery of local enterprises to handle landslides. Communes that are flooded and cannot be traveled should let students stay home from school. Communes that are deeply flooded must have a plan to evacuate people to safe places. Localities with dams should coordinate with the Northern Irrigation Company to inspect and handle incidents. As soon as the water recedes, people harvest immediately. At the same time, localities arrange forces to clear the flow of canals and then focus on disease prevention for people and livestock.
Xuan Hoang