According to a quick report from the Department of Dyke Management and Natural Disaster Prevention and Control (Ministry of Agriculture and Environment), as of the afternoon of October 7, floods have left at least 7 people dead, missing and 2 people injured in the localities.
Specifically, 3 people have died due to landslides, including 1 person in Cao Bang and 2 people in Thanh Hoa. Along with that, 4 others are missing due to being swept away by floodwaters, of which Thai Nguyen has 3 people and Thanh Hoa has 1 person. Currently, local authorities are making efforts to search for the victims.
In addition to human losses, floods also caused heavy property losses. The whole area had 4,830 houses flooded and damaged; 1,608 houses were completely isolated. Lang Son and Cao Bang are the two localities most severely affected in terms of housing.
Regarding agriculture, nearly 9,500 hectares of rice and crops were flooded. Hundreds of livestock and more than 42,000 poultry died and were swept away, leaving many farming households penniless. Traffic was also seriously paralyzed with 493 flooded and landslide points causing congestion on major roads in Lang Son, Cao Bang, Thai Nguyen, Bac Ninh and Thanh Hoa.
The cause of this disastrous natural disaster is due to very heavy rain. In less than 24 hours (from 7pm on October 6 to 4pm on October 7), the rainfall in Thai Nguyen, Cao Bang, Tuyen Quang, Bac Ninh, Lang Son provinces will generally be from 200-400mm. Some stations recorded record rainfall such as: Hoa Thuong (Thai Nguyen) 564mm; Gia Bay (Thai Nguyen) 541mm; Bo Ha (Bac Ninh) 449mm.
Heavy rain caused a particularly large flood on the Cau River, Thuong River and Luc Nam River systems. Most alarmingly, at 4:00 p.m. on October 7, the water level on the Cau River at Gia Bay station (Thai Nguyen) reached 29.26m, above alert level 3 (BD3) of 2.26m and officially exceeded the historical flood mark of 0.45m. Emergency flood conditions have also been issued on the Thuong and Luc Nam rivers, with many points exceeding BD3 at very high levels.
It is forecasted that in the next 12-24 hours, floods on the Cau and Thuong rivers will continue to rise and remain above level 3, directly threatening the safety of the dyke system and residential areas along the river.
Faced with the complicated situation, on October 7, a working group of the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment led by Deputy Minister Nguyen Hoang Hiep directly visited Thai Nguyen and Lang Son to inspect and direct response work, especially in the incident of the Bac Khe 1 hydropower dam burst (Lang Son).
The National Civil Defense Steering Committee has issued Official Dispatch No. 13 requesting localities to focus all resources to respond to floods. The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment also issued an urgent document directing the provinces and cities of Hanoi, Thai Nguyen, Bac Ninh, and Hai Phong to immediately deploy urgent solutions to ensure the safety of the dyke system before the fierce flood.
Currently, large reservoirs in the Red River basin such as Hoa Binh and Son La are operating to regulate, in which Hoa Binh Lake is opening 2 bottom spillways to receive floodwaters, contributing to reducing pressure on downstream.
It is forecasted that heavy rain may continue in the Northwest and Viet Bac regions until the morning of October 8, the risk of flash floods, landslides and localized flooding is still very high. Localities and people need to continue to be vigilant and comply with the instructions of competent authorities to minimize damage.
