On the morning of May 4th, leaders of Song Lam Sugar Joint Stock Company (Nhan Hoa commune, Nghe An province) said that they are urgently mobilizing officials and workers to collect about 2,000 tons of sugarcane seeds spilled into the premises after a lightning strike that punctured the storage tank on the afternoon of May 3rd.
According to Mr. Dang Manh Hung - Chairman of the Board of Directors cum General Director of the Company, the lightning strike hit the sugar factory's storage tank during heavy rain accompanied by thunderstorms, creating too large holes that caused bile to be scattered and spread throughout the factory yard. "At that time, I could only stand and watch because I could not handle it in time," Mr. Hung said.
The incident did not cause any casualties but property damage is estimated at 7-8 billion VND. Currently, the enterprise has mobilized local labor forces to organize the collection and treatment of the overflowed area, and repair the storage tank overnight. Dark brown sugarcane molasses flows in streams, sticks and is slippery, posing a potential risk of labor unsafety.
As Lao Dong Newspaper has reported, in the afternoon of May 3, heavy rain, thunderstorms, accompanied by heavy hail, occurred in many places in Nghe An province, causing damage to houses and crops of people. The locality that suffered the most damage was Thanh Binh Tho commune (belonging to the old Anh Son district), where many houses had their roofs blown off, trees were broken, and crops were widely damaged.
Currently, local authorities and functional forces are statistically assessing damage and supporting people to overcome the consequences after the natural disaster.
