According to the Farmers' Association of Binh Loi commune, the high tide combined with heavy rain and the flood discharge of Dau Tieng lake at the end of October affected about 900 hectares of crops and livestock in the area, including more than 500 hectares of yellow apricot gardens deeply submerged in water. This is an important time when gardeners are taking care of apricot trees to prepare for the Tet crop, so many households have to be on duty day and night to pump water to save the garden.
Thanks to the urgent intervention of local authorities, Hoc Mon - Binh Chanh Irrigation Enterprise, the local Fire Police force and the people, up to now, over 80% of the apricot garden area has been flooded. Dozens of large-capacity pumps are still operating 24/7, combined with temporary dykes, dredging canals, and clearing water flows to prevent flooding during high tides.
Mr. Nguyen Van Kiem, the owner of a 2ha apricot garden with nearly 10,000 trees, happily shared that his apricot garden was rescued in time: My garden was flooded 1-2 times in 1 - 2 days, so luck did not affect it much. If flooded for 5-6 days, the leaves will turn yellow and fallen off. Thanks to the government's mobilization of forces to support the construction of dykes and pumping water, the garden is now safe. On days when the water rises, sometimes the dyke is overflowed, we have to block the water and pump it out continuously.
According to local people, there will still be several high tides in the next month, so the work of reinforcing the dykes and operating the pumping system is still being regularly deployed to avoid re-flooding low-lying areas.
Apricot garden owner Nguyen Van them also said that with careful preparation, people are no longer too worried about upcoming high tides or storms.
"There are still about two high tides until the end of the year, but people have proactively reinforced the dykes, increased large-capacity pumps and improved the inland irrigation system. The low-lying areas have been filled with soil to be 5 steps high, so we are much more assured, said Mr. added.
According to Mr. Truong Minh Tuoc Nguyen - Secretary of the Party Committee of Binh Loi commune, the locality is currently operating more than 20 pumps operating continuously day and night to push water out into the canal, reducing flooding for households. Along with that, the militia and security forces at the grassroots level have also been mobilized to support people in building temporary dykes, dredging mud and clearing water flows, to limit the risk of flooding again when the tide rises.
Thanks to these synchronous efforts, about 80% of the flooded water has been receded compared to the peak of high tides on the night of October 23-24, helping many apricot gardens and residential areas gradually stabilize again.
After the water recedes completely, Binh Loi commune will establish survey and damage counting teams to synthesize, report and propose to the city to consider support policies for people.
It is expected that support forms include tax exemption, reduction, preferential or interest-free loans through the Farmers' Support Fund and the Social Policy Bank, helping people soon restore production and in time for the upcoming Tet apricot crop.
