On the morning of November 18, the People's Committee of Khanh Hoa province held an urgent meeting to listen to reports on landslides at Khanh Le Pass, Khanh Son Pass and some flooded areas in the area.
At the meeting, Khanh Hoa Provincial Party Secretary Nghiem Xuan Thanh emphasized that prolonged heavy rain has caused serious damage to property, crops and disrupted people's lives.
He requested Khanh Hoa General Hospital to arrange doctors and maximum equipment to treat the victims of the Khanh Le Pass landslide; all injured cases are exempted from hospital fees.
The Provincial Secretary also requested that sectors prepare conditions for students to return to school as soon as possible but must ensure safety.
Authorities must proactively support people to stabilize their lives and control market prices during the prolonged period of floods.
Regarding the incident at Khanh Son Pass, Mr. Thanh requested to increase specialized equipment to speed up the search for missing people.
Colonel Nguyen Tuy - Commander of Khanh Hoa Provincial Military Command - added that on November 17, the special forces organized the evacuation of people in the downstream area, and coordinated with local police to rescue people in deeply flooded areas in Tay Nha Trang ward.
Mr. Tuy assessed that rescue work on two key passes still has some problems due to the lack of coordination between forces.
According to the report, by 11pm on November 17, armed forces had been mobilized to dangerous locations, rescue forces at Khanh Son Pass continued to be on duty, ready to handle arising situations.
Meanwhile, Mr. Nguyen Duy Quang - Director of the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Khanh Hoa - said that heavy rain is expected to last until November 19.
Reservoirs in the area have received more than 30 million m3 of floodwater. In particular, Cai Nha Trang River is receiving a large amount of water, causing deep flooding in many areas of Tay Nha Trang Ward and Dien Dien Commune.
In addition to the landslides at Khanh Le Pass and Khanh Son Pass that killed 7 people, on the morning of November 18, the authorities recorded another missing case in Bac Nha Trang Ward.
The leaders of the Department of Dyke Management and Natural Disaster Prevention and Control (Ministry of Agriculture and Environment) warned that on November 18-19, Khanh Hoa will continue to have very heavy rain.
