Nghe An braces itself against floods, soon stabilizing people's lives

The flood in western Nghe An began with a flash flood that occurred at noon on July 22 in the border commune of Nhon Mai. The flood swept away two houses in Nhon Mai village and one house in Huoi Xa village. The Nhon Mai commune government headquarters was submerged nearly 1 meter deep. Only four hours after the flood, many houses, fields, roads, and an iron bridge across Khe Hy were also swept away by floodwaters.

Floodwaters surrounded and isolated Con Cuong commune, Nghe An province.

Stay up all night to escape the flood

The night of July 22nd seemed to be a sleepless night for the Party Committee, the government, the armed forces and the people of the communes: Muong Xen, Tuong Duong, Nhon Mai, Yen Hoa, Con Cuong... Nghe An province. At around 11pm, the Nam Mo river began to rise, causing many areas in Muong Xen commune, especially blocks 1, 4, 5 and along National Highway 7 to begin to be flooded.

Within a few dozen minutes, dozens of houses in Block 1 were flooded up to the roof. The water rose so fast that people had no time to react, shouting to each other to run away, unable to move their belongings. The river water kept rising and by 11:40 p.m., the area in front of the entrance to the Muong Xen Commune People's Committee was flooded up to the heads of adults, and commune officials could not enter the headquarters. The entire central area of the commune lost power, hundreds of houses were submerged in floodwater.

In Tuong Duong commune, the People's Committee had to hold an urgent meeting in the middle of the night to deploy the work of supporting people to evacuate from dangerous areas. That same night, hundreds of households in Hoa Bac and Hoa Dong blocks were urgently evacuated.

During the night, the Cua Rao suspension bridge over the Nam Mo River connecting National Highway 7 with remote villages, Ban Chan bridge and Ban Lau bridge were swept away by floodwaters. In the early morning of July 23, local authorities and functional forces urgently evacuated 2,210 households that were flooded more than 2 meters.

In Yen Hoa commune, water in the overflowing stream on the only road leading to Tat and Xop Coc villages (old Yen Thang commune) was heavily flooded, completely isolating more than 200 households with nearly 1,000 people in Tat and Xop Coc villages.

By noon on July 23, the People's Committee of the commune sent forces to block and stand guard regularly at key points, prohibiting people and vehicles from traveling on the road through Tat and Xop Coc villages to ensure safety...

Considering the flood situation is still complicated, however, before the rooster crowed, we took our backpacks containing computers, cameras and some dry food and started on our way. The road from the center of Nghe An province (old Vinh city) to the mountainous communes, which was already winding and dangerous, was now even more difficult with dozens of landslides and fallen trees blocking the way.

With a tired face after running all night in the flood, Mrs. Tran Thi Cuc (Vinh Hoan village, Con Cuong commune) said: "Since I was born, I have never witnessed a flood with water rising so fast and high. In the early morning of July 23, the rising water swept away many of the family's belongings and properties."

Next to Mrs. Cuc's house, Mr. Nguyen Van Loc (61 years old) was still sitting in a daze in front of his house that was flooded almost to the roof. "Last night the whole village was awake. This is a historic flood, worse than the flood in 1988. The water rose so fast that we couldn't react, we were helpless," Mr. Loc shared. While taking temporary shelter at the old Ky Son District Political Center, Mr. Kha Hai Thanh in Block 1, Muong Xen Commune, nearly 80 years old this year, just came to sleep at the Political Center and still hasn't recovered from his shock, confiding: "I have never experienced a flood as terrible as this one."

Previously, the local government, officers and soldiers of Nhon Mai Border Guard Station (Nghe An Province Border Guard), and Nhon Mai Commune Police urgently evacuated 19 households, with 65 people from Xoi Voi village to temporary shelters and the village's community cultural house.

By the morning of July 22, the Tam Thai commune government also quickly evacuated dozens of households from Xop Nam village to temporary accommodation at the local secondary school, in the old Tam Hop commune.

Armed forces support people to evacuate and move property out of danger zones.

On the same afternoon, the water level of Hieu River rose very quickly, causing three points on National Highway 48 to be deeply flooded, with a length of about 10 km, and more than 105 houses in Quy Chau commune were flooded. During the night, local authorities urgently evacuated 493 people...

Heavy damage

At noon on July 23, floodwaters in some communes began to recede, however, communes downstream were still heavily flooded. According to preliminary statistics from the People's Committee of My Ly commune, about 150 houses were submerged and swept away by floodwaters; more than 200 houses were deeply flooded, of which the villages of Yen Hoa, Xieng Tam and Xop Tu were the most severely damaged. Total damage in the commune is estimated at nearly 30 billion VND, especially many houses in Xop Tu village are at risk of collapsing into the river.

In Muong Xen commune, immediately after the flood receded, the local government and people quickly began to overcome the consequences. Police, Border Guard, Military and other organizations, along with the people, focused on clearing sewers, clearing fallen trees, dredging mud, houses, schools, medical stations, etc., prioritizing support for severely affected households, ensuring smooth traffic and a stable life. Chairman of Muong Xen Commune People's Committee Lo Dinh Thu said that fortunately there were no human casualties, but it is estimated that more than 300 houses were severely damaged.

At Con Cuong commune, by 3:30 p.m. on July 23, floodwaters showed signs of rising again as reservoirs upstream were regulating discharge levels. Con Cuong commune Party Secretary Nguyen Hoai An said that the commune has 36 villages and hamlets heavily flooded; of which 19 villages and hamlets are severely flooded. The commune has evacuated more than 2,000 people from the danger zone.

The Standing Office of the Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention, Search and Rescue and Civil Defense of Nghe An province updated that as of the afternoon of July 23, 450 houses and two schools were damaged; 3,786 houses were heavily flooded; thousands of hectares of rice, crops and fruit trees were submerged. In addition to property damage, three people died due to floods; one person is missing and four people were injured (this data is incomplete because many localities and units are isolated, without power and communication).

According to information from the Office of the Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention, Search and Rescue and Civil Defense of Nghe An province, at 7:00 a.m. on July 23, the water level of Ban Ve Hydropower Reservoir was at 199.3 m; the water flow into the reservoir reached 8,000 m ³ / second; the discharge flow was 4,300 m ³ / second. The gates of this hydropower plant were also opened to the maximum with six gates. Tran Quoc Toan, Deputy Head of Nghe An Province Irrigation Department, said that this was an unprecedented historic flood in Nghe An. The water flow into Ban Ve Hydropower Reservoir was so fast that it could be seen. At 2:00 a.m. on July 23, the water level was at its peak of 12,800 m ³ / second, fortunately it gradually decreased afterwards.

“If the water level continues to rise, emergency treatment will be required for dangerous constructions, and the flooding in the downstream area will certainly be much more serious,” Mr. Toan shared.

Faced with the complicated developments of the floods, the Police, Military and Border Guard units in Nghe An province quickly deployed thousands of officers, soldiers and militia to help people in complex weather conditions, with many roads cut off by floods.

Armed forces in the area promptly evacuated people in deeply flooded areas to safety; maintained 24/7 on-duty, ready to mobilize when situations arise, ensuring timely support for the authorities and people of Western Nghe An to respond to and overcome the consequences of floods.

In order to ensure the safety of people's lives and property, the safety of dikes, irrigation dams and hydroelectric power plants in Nghe An province, on July 23, the General Staff of the Vietnam People's Army issued Official Dispatch No. 4214/CD-TM to the General Department of Politics of the Vietnam People's Army, the General Department of Logistics and Engineering, Military Region 4, the Air Defense - Air Force, Border Guard, and Army Corps 18 on focusing on emergency response to rain and floods in Nghe An province; requesting units to check and review plans, organize forces and vehicles to be ready to conduct search and rescue flights by air when ordered by the Ministry.

According to Nhan Dan

Source: https://baobacninhtv.vn/nghe-an-gong-minh-trong-lu-du-som-on-dinh-cuoc-song-nguoi-dan-postid422599.bbg