Yen Thanh and Quynh Luu dams broke, many areas were isolated.

In Yen Thanh district,Water from upstream has caused widespread flooding, causing serious damage to production and people's lives.

According to a quick report from the Steering Committee for Flood and Storm Prevention in Yen Thanh district, over 4,400 hectares of summer-autumn rice in the panicle-forming period were flooded, of which about 2,000 hectares were at risk of total loss; nearly 100 hectares of aquaculture area were flooded; over 25 hectares of forest were broken; thousands of poultry and waterfowl were swept away by the flood.

Lim Dam, Dong Thanh Commune (Yen Thanh) has a broken dam body that was just upgraded. Photo: Thai Duong

In particular, high water combined with the circulation of storm No. 3 has caused more than 900 households in Long Thanh, Khanh Thanh, Bao Thanh, Cong Thanh, and Trung Thanh communes to have their houses flooded; currently, 140 households in Hamlet 5, Bao Thanh commune are isolated by floodwaters.

Khe Cat flood prevention dike (Bao Thanh commune); Lung dam (Thinh Thanh commune); Lim dam (Dong Thanh commune) were broken from 10 - 12 m; Bien Hoa dike (Khanh Thanh commune) was eroded 200m causing flooding in the downstream area.Some bridges and culverts in Tan Thanh, Minh Thanh, Hau Thanh and Phuc Thanh communes have subsided.

Khanh Thanh Commune mobilizes forces to rescue Bien Hoa dike. Photo: Anh Tuan

National Highway 7A, the 2km section from Cong Thanh to Bao Thanh communes was flooded from 0.5 - 0.7m, vehicles could not circulate; National Highway 7B section through Roc market area, Trung Thanh commune was deeply flooded; many inter-district roads were seriously eroded; 21 electric poles were knocked down. Especially in Dong Bau hamlet, Ma Thanh commune, the low-voltage transformer station was short-circuited, causing many electrical equipment of the people to burn...

On the morning of July 19, the district leaders directly went to key areas, mobilized forces to focus on overcoming the consequences of floods, and deployed many timely solutions to support people in flooded areas to stabilize their lives soon. Especially on National Highways 7A and 7B, Yen Thanh Police and Traffic Police Team 1-7 of Nghe An Police set up Barrier stations to prohibit people and vehicles from passing. At the same time, they divided and directed traffic to safe traffic routes.

Yen Thanh police direct traffic and guide people and vehicles to safe routes.

Because the Dien Thanh - Dien Chau drainage culvert is under construction, as of 3:00 p.m. on July 19, flood water in deep areas of Yen Thanh is still draining slowly, and water from upstream is pouring in, causing widespread flooding.

Thai Duong - Anh Tuan

Bau Xa Dam, Quynh Lam Commune, Quynh Luu Districthas a reserve of more than 1 million m3 of water. The dam system includes 3 pumping stations, 4 irrigation sluices and 1 spillway. The dam irrigates 300 hectares of agricultural production of people in hamlets 9, 10, 5, 15, 13, 14, 2, 3, 4.

Due to heavy rains that lasted for many days, the irrigation culvert in Hamlet 17 broke starting on July 14. At that time, the culvert was only 1 meter wide, then increased to 3 meters. After the heavy rain of storm No. 3 from the evening of July 18 to the morning of July 19, the culvert continued to break with a length of up to 6 meters, causing the water to rise rapidly, isolating 7 households in the hamlet.

The irrigation culvert of Bau Xa dam in hamlet 17, Quynh Lam commune (Quynh Luu) was broken with a length of 6m, and had to be used as a temporary bridge using bamboo poles. Photo: Hong Dien

Faced with that situation, Quynh Lam commune directed village 17 to announce an emergency at night, evacuate people, especially the elderly and children to safe areas. At the same time, transport livestock and poultry to higher locations. The village executive committee mobilized forces from mass organizations to use bamboo poles to make temporary bridges to help isolated households to travel outside.

"Currently, the landslide is too long, if the rain continues, the landslide will be severe; the hamlet assigned the Veterans Association to be on duty at this temporary bridge to support 7 households that are isolated during the rainy and windy days" - Mr.Mr. Ho Viet Lang, head of village 17, Quynh Lam commune added.

Hundreds of hectares of rice were flooded due to the Bau Xa dam sluice gate breaking. Photo: Hong Dien

The broken irrigation sluice of Bau Xa dam has flooded more than 200 hectares of rice and crops and wiped out nearly 8 hectares of freshwater fish farms. It is expected that in about 15-20 days, the water in the dam will dry up and the water outside will completely recede.Mr. Ho Ngoc Truong - Vice Chairman of Quynh Lam Commune People's Committee added that the commune has organized a steering committee meeting and assigned specific tasks to each member working directly at the village level, and assigned the village to use all measures not to separate households on both sides of the sluice gate area and build a temporary bridge for transportation.

Currently, due to the water flow in the dams in Ngoc Son commune and the flows in the commune all converging to Bau Xa dam, the water level is rising, the rice fields below the dam are flooded more deeply. If the rain continues in the area, prolonged flooding will cause great economic damage to the people.