Quickly fix the broken dam of Bac Khe - Lang Son hydroelectric power plant

Photo caption — Scene of the Bac Khe hydroelectric dam ( Lang Son ) breaking on the afternoon of October 7, 2025. Photo: VNA

The downstream area below the hydroelectric dam was not flooded. Local authorities coordinated with central authorities to inspect and assess the actual location of the incident to quickly find a solution to ensure people's safety.

From the beginning of National Highway 3 to the hydroelectric dam area about 700m, people's houses and crop areas are still normal, not flooded, water in the streams is at moderate level, no unusual phenomenon. Present at Bac Khe 1 hydroelectric dam at about 7:30 on October 8, the reporter recorded that the broken dam location is about 4-5m long, about 3-4m deep but still not broken wide; the spillway is operating normally.

From the small road halfway up the hill to the hydroelectric dam, there is a stream and a forest about 100m wide, the water level is low, there is no risk of flash floods. However, the local government, military forces, and police have assigned officers to guard from October 7th to now to ensure safety and prevent unusual incidents.

Mr. Nong Van Khang in Bac Khe village, Tan Tien commune shared that his house is nearly 200m from the hydroelectric plant. Initially, when the hydroelectric dam broke and water flowed strongly downstream, his family and people around this area were quite worried. Currently, the situation is relatively stable, the downstream area of the hydroelectric dam is not flooded, but people still hope that the Central and the province will soon fix the problem so that people can rest assured to stabilize their lives and production.

Present at the scene to inspect the actual incident, Major General Pham Hai Chau, Deputy Director of the Department of Rescue and Search and Rescue under the General Staff - Deputy Chief of Office of the National Civil Defense Steering Committee, acknowledged the efforts of the Party Committee, government, and functional forces of the province in responding to the incident, promptly evacuating all 196 households with 779 people in the downstream area of the hydropower plant before the dam broke, thus ensuring absolute safety for the people.

Major General Pham Hai Chau suggested that the local authorities and functional agencies should quickly approach the scene, accurately assess the situation of the broken dam section, and have a plan to fix it as soon as possible to ensure safety. Currently, the General Staff has directed units to continue maintaining the forces of Military Region 1 and the forces stationed in the area to help people overcome the consequences of natural disasters. At the same time, advise the leaders of the Ministry of National Defense as well as the National Civil Defense Steering Committee and coordinate with the State Reserve Department to suddenly issue national reserve goods to Lang Son, especially motorboats, life jackets... to deploy the work of responding to natural disasters and storms.

Talking to reporters at the scene, Vice Chairman of Lang Son Provincial People's Committee Doan Thanh Son said that the province is currently waiting for the water level at the hydroelectric reservoir to drop to a safe level. After that, the province's functional agencies will approach the incident area to make a comprehensive and thorough assessment of the project, based on the review and consultation with functional agencies to fix the incident to ensure safety, trying to do their best in the shortest time, ensuring safety for the downstream area.

Currently, due to the complicated flood situation, ensuring the safety of technical staff and vehicles is not guaranteed, so the authorities such as the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment are coordinating with the province to calculate appropriate incident handling plans. The province's viewpoint is still to request people in the downstream area of the hydroelectric dam to stay in a safe place; direct local authorities to provide maximum support in terms of conditions to ensure the lives of people in the evacuation area. The province tries to overcome the incident as soon as possible to ensure the safety of the project and the lives of people around this hydroelectric area.

Previously, as reported by VNA reporters, at around 1:30 p.m. on October 7, a section of the Bac Khe 1 hydroelectric dam, approximately 4-5 meters long and 3-4 meters deep, broke. The initial cause of the dam failure was determined to be prolonged heavy rain.

Source: https://baotintuc.vn/xa-hoi/som-khac-phuc-su-co-vo-dap-thuy-dien-bac-khe-lang-son-20251008093103692.htm