Flood prevention pumping station operates slowly, many Ben Thuy households run 'flooded' at night

At 2am on October 8, many households in Block 13 and 15, Ben Thuy Ward, Vinh City, woke up and called on each other to urgently move their cars and motorbikes and raise their property. The loudspeaker of Block 13 also broadcast a warning about flooding in the area near the reservoir of the drainage pumping station No. 3 (Cau Tri).

At this time, the rain had stopped after the previous rain. However, the water from the pumping station reservoir rose high, flowing back into the drainage canal system, causing flooding in some households. At the same time, many households had their yards flooded 30-40 cm, almost reaching the floor of their houses.

The reason why many households were flooded at night in Ben Thuy ward was because the drainage culvert of the reservoir of pumping station No. 3 was blocked due to the incident of Lam River overflowing 5-6 days ago when the Lam River water level rose. At the same time, the drainage pump system of Pumping Station No. 3 (Cau Tri) was slow to operate.

Mr. Luong Ngoc Son - one of the flooded households said: "After receiving information from my neighbors, I hurriedly drove my car to a higher place and quickly returned home to raise my belongings. I and many households went to the pumping station reservoir area to check and saw that the water was almost overflowing the reservoir. Obviously, if the pumping station operators had operated earlier, my family and many households would not have had to flee the flood at night."

Pumping station No. 3 (Cau Tri) is slow to operate, many households are flooded at night. Photo: NN

Fortunately, 30 minutes later, the flood control pump system was put into operation and within 20 minutes, it had pumped and prevented widespread flooding. What is worrying is that the reservoir system and flood control pump station No. 3 (Cau Tri) have just been upgraded, part of the Vinh city flood control project worth billions of dong.