Nghe An has 240 warning points for flash floods and landslides.

Flash floods damaged spillway structures in Tuong Duong district. Photo: Van Truong

As the remote districtXiangyanghas complex terrain, with rivers and mountains cutting across, flash floods have occurred, causing heavy damage. In Yen Hoa commune, there are 12 villages, including Xieng Lip and Hao villages with over 320 households, all located close to Cha Ha and Lip streams. During the rainy season, the risk of flash floods threatening people's lives and property is very high.

Mr. Lo Kham Kha - Head of the Agriculture Department of Tuong Duong district said: The district currently has more than 30 locations at risk of flash floods, mainly concentrated in the communes of Yen Na, Yen Hoa, Nga My, Luong Minh, Tam Hop...

Regarding the risk of landslides, there are more than 10 points in La, Minh Phuong, Xop Mat and Coi villages, Luong Minh commune located along the road from Cua Rao - Ban Ve Hydropower Plant. The areas of Pha Khao village, Mai Son commune, households located along Khe Bo hydropower reservoir, Nam Non hydropower plant; resettlement areas with steep terrain and high slopes...

Landslide in Mai Son commune (Tuong Duong). Photo: Van Truong.

WithKy Son district, there are over 30 landslides and over 20 flash flood and flash flood risk points, with nearly 500 households affected by flash floods and flash floods in the communes of Ta Ca, Pha Danh, Huu Kiem, Chieu Luu, Keng Du, Bac Ly, My Ly...

According to the report of the Irrigation Department, Nghe An currently has 240 flash flood warning points in 25 communes of 6 districts: Con Cuong, Tuong Duong, Ky Son, Quy Chau, Que Phong, Quy Hop with 2,124 households (12,387 people).

For flash flood risk areas, it is determined that there are about 2,575 households, over 15,000 people affected and need to be evacuated when an incident occurs. According to a survey, Nghe An currently has 244 households in Ky Son, Con Cuong, Tuong Duong districts... that need to be urgently relocated to new places to avoid the risk of flash floods and landslides that threaten life and property.

However, to forecast and warn accurately and promptly about the time and place of occurrence,flash flood, landslideis still a “difficult problem”. According to experts, it is currently not possible to predict flash floods and landslides (only warnings of the possibility of flash floods occurring in a region or a large area) because models for forecasting rain and floods are still limited.

On the other hand, due to the lack of data on monitoring, topography, lack of information on land cover structure, soil layers, and physical properties of soil. Changes in land use, deforestation, mineral exploitation, road construction, etc. are also factors that make it difficult to forecast flash floods and landslides.

There are quite a few households in Ta Ca commune, Ky Son district building houses along streams. Photo: Van Truong.

Representative of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development said: To minimize the risk offlash floodcaused. Nghe An will focus resources, gradually arrange and rearrange residents and livelihoods in areas at risk of flash floods. In particular, priority will be given to integrating capital sources to build and arrange safe accommodation for households affected by flash floods in the districts of Ky Son, Tuong Duong, Que Phong, Quy Chau...

Nghe An has gradually invested in building and installing an increased density of monitoring and early warning systems in residential areas at high risk of flash floods, to provide timely warnings and assist in the evacuation of residents. It has coordinated with neighboring Laos to monitor the situation of water flowing from upstream, thereby having plans to prevent flash floods in border districts.

Van Truong