Since the beginning of July, floods have caused landslides on positive and negative slopes; filled in vertical ditches, subsided road surfaces; appeared large slides at many points, damaged traffic infrastructure, caused local congestion on some routes and posed a potential risk to the safety of people and vehicles traveling on national highways through Son La province.
According to the Department of Construction of Son La province, floods and rains have caused landslides on positive slopes, silted up road surfaces, culverts, and ditches at more than 1,000 locations on 7 national highways, with a landslide volume of more than 33,000m3 of rock and soil.
The provincial road system also recorded damage at 944 locations on 16 routes, with a landslide volume of about 60,000m3. In addition, rural traffic routes were also affected with over 24,000m3 of rock and soil sliding down the road surface. The total value of damage in the whole province is estimated at nearly 25 billion VND.
Immediately after the landslide and silt caused traffic congestion, the Department of Construction directed the Road Maintenance Management Board to send officers to the scene to verify the amount of damage.
At the same time, urge and direct contractors to arrange materials, machinery, and labor to immediately repair the locations of positive slope landslides that caused traffic jams; handle some locations of dangerous negative slope landslides to ensure smooth traffic, not allowing prolonged congestion.
In response to the complicated developments of the flood situation, the People's Committee of Son La province has declared a natural disaster emergency to promptly respond to the damage caused by prolonged heavy rain that has seriously affected and damaged the road traffic infrastructure in the province since the beginning of July.