After 4 days since the flood occurred, the 35km long road connecting the center of Mu Cang Chai commune with Che Tao commune (Lao Cai province) has not yet been opened to traffic.
Hundreds of landslides and many road sections swept away by floodwaters have paralyzed traffic, seriously affecting people's lives and the activities of local authorities.
According to records, hundreds of large and small landslide points have appeared on the entire route. Thousands of cubic meters of soil and rock from the positive slope fell down, covering the road surface. Many locations of the roadbed were completely destroyed, making it impossible for vehicles to circulate.
The most serious is the section through Hang Gang village, Lao Chai commune. Here, floods swept away two sections of concrete road, of which the more than 40m long section was completely wiped out. The guardrail system was also swept away by the water.
To cross this area, people, fiber optic cable repairers and working groups have to follow the mountainside or climb over the slopes in potentially dangerous conditions.
As a person who regularly travels on this route, Mr. Giang A Vang, in Kim Noi village, Mu Cang Chai commune - said that this is a vital traffic route serving the fields, transportation of agricultural products and necessities of the people.
We hope the road will be repaired soon so that travel and production can return to normal," Mr. Vang shared.
According to local authorities, the hilly and steep terrain, strongly divided along with prolonged rain, makes it difficult to inspect and statistically determine damage.
Preliminary statistics show that in addition to hundreds of landslide points, there are also about 10 locations where the road surface was completely swept away by floods.
Many sections have lost the entire roadbed, so the remediation is not only stopping at clearing soil and rocks but also having to construct and reinforce the route structure.
In recent days, Che Tao commune has mobilized an excavator from the outside to gradually clear soil and rocks and open roads. However, with a very large volume of landslides, the recovery progress is still slow and more machinery, equipment and support forces are needed.
Not only affecting people's lives and production, the road being cut off also causes difficulties for the operation of the local government apparatus.
Earlier this week, many officials and civil servants of Che Tao commune could not return to work on the usual route.
To get to the commune center, they have to walk through the forest and then move around through Lai Chau province, then to Son La, taking nearly a day to reach the headquarters.
According to Mr. Nguyen Manh Cuong - Standing Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of Che Tao commune, the road from the center of Mu Cang Chai commune to Che Tao is a vital traffic route, playing an important role in transporting goods, necessities, relief work and maintaining the operation of the government system.
The locality really hopes that the province and departments and branches will soon have plans to support disaster recovery, strengthen machinery, equipment and construction forces to quickly clear the route, helping people stabilize their lives," Mr. Cuong said.
