Heavy rains caused by the circulation of storm Yagi caused the water level of Ha Thanh River (Tien Yen District, Quang Ninh) to rise, combined with large floods from upstream causing the 57m spillway of the left shoulder of Ha Thanh Dam in Na Bac Village, Dong Hai Commune to break. As a result, the flood swept away the houses of about 400 households, submerged property and destroyed clean vegetable fields.
Ms. Lam Thi Dang (Na Bac village) shared: "The water rose so quickly, we only had time to run up the hill, the rest of our assets were swept away by the flood. The whole area was flooded."
The flood also caused major damage to three other irrigation works, namely Lang Dai Stage 1 dam, Ha Trang Dong and Ha Trang Tay dams (Tien Yen district), directly affecting the ability to provide irrigation water for more than 330 hectares of rice and crops.
Mr. Thang Van Thong - Head of Na Bac village - expressed: "In 1996 and 2008, flood water also overflowed the dam but did not break. This year's flood is terrible, now the project has not been completed, the repair is also very dangerous. I myself have contacted my brothers in the upstream such as Dai Duc (Tien Yen district), Quang An (Dam Ha district), to report heavy rain to proactively prevent floods".
Faced with the damage to the works, the People's Committee of Quang Ninh province has declared a natural disaster emergency to immediately deploy measures to repair and upgrade damaged irrigation works; assigned the Eastern Irrigation One Member Co., Ltd. and relevant agencies to assess the situation and implement solutions.
Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan - Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Eastern Irrigation Company Limited - said: "Immediately after the flood, the company mobilized machinery, equipment, materials, and human resources to temporarily fix the eroded and silted areas, especially the T2 Ha Thanh canal and the Dam, the Lang Dai Phase 1 canal. The unit used natural stones on site and iron cages to temporarily fix the problem. By September 15, the works had been temporarily fixed to ensure production and water supply for the people.
To repair the 4 projects, the unit has selected a consulting unit to survey and design, and has submitted to the Department of Natural Resources and Environment the land exploitation dossier for dam construction. When land is available, a construction unit will be selected to repair and fix the project immediately.
According to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Quang Ninh has 397 km of dykes, protecting about 43,600 hectares of land and 240,000 people. However, only the national dyke in Quang Yen town is capable of withstanding level 10 storms, the rest can only withstand level 8-9 storms. This poses a major challenge to the dyke system in the context of increasingly complex weather conditions.
Mr. Doan Manh Phuong - Chief of Office of the Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention, Search and Rescue and Civil Defense of Quang Ninh Province - said: "Storm No. 3 and the rain circulation have exceeded the resistance capacity of many irrigation works. What needs to be done now is to upgrade the works to cope with similar storms in the future, especially when industrial zones are developing strongly in the protected dike area".
Faced with increasingly unpredictable weather conditions, upgrading irrigation and dyke systems not only helps protect property but also ensures people's safety and economic development.
