On September 9, the Department of Management and Construction of Irrigation Works (Ministry of Agriculture and Environment) issued an official dispatch on ensuring the safety of irrigation works, preventing flooding and waterlogging for agricultural production due to the impact of heavy rain in the area from Thanh Hoa to Khanh Hoa, Central Highlands and the South.
According to forecasts, on September 9, day and night, the Central Highlands will have moderate rain, common rainfall of 20-40mm, locally heavy to very heavy rain over 100mm. The area from Hue City to Da Nang City, the east of provinces from Quang Ngai to Khanh Hoa and the Southeast region will have heavy rain over 80mm.
From September 10-11, the area from Thanh Hoa to Hue City, the Central Highlands and the South will have moderate rain, heavy rain and thunderstorms, locally very heavy rain over 150mm. The meteorological agency warns of the risk of heavy rain intensity over 100mm in 3 hours, which is likely to last and develop complicatedly.
Faced with the above situation, the Department of Management and Construction of Irrigation Works requests localities and units to closely monitor the developments of rain and floods; inspect the safety of dams, reservoirs, key irrigation works and works under construction.
Localities need to zone areas of crops at risk of flooding, proactively pump out buffer water. When heavy rain occurs, it is necessary to operate the maximum capacity of irrigation works to drain water, prioritizing flood reduction for residential areas, industrial parks, high-value crop areas and low-lying areas.
For reservoirs with flood discharge gates, management units must base on rain forecasts to develop operating scenarios, proactively lower flood reception water levels; ensure the safety of works, and not discharge floods abnormally causing downstream unsafety.
Damaged and degraded reservoirs at risk of unsafety must be restricted or not stored water, arrange on-duty forces and be ready with evacuation plans for people in downstream areas.
The Department also requested to organize 24/24 hour duty duties during rain and floods; arrange on-duty personnel at projects at risk of incidents and promptly handle unusual situations right from the first hour.
