---> See more: Initial damage is about 50 billion VND
On the afternoon of October 7, confirming with a reporter from Lao Dong Newspaper, Mr. Dinh Ky Giang - Deputy Director of the Department of Industry and Trade of Lang Son province - said that due to prolonged heavy rain, the amount of water pouring in quickly and strongly caused the Bac Khe Hydropower Dam (Tan Tien commune) to break.
Accordingly, the incident occurred at around 1:45 p.m. the same day, in Bac Khe village, when the dam body of the Bac Khe hydropower plant cracked and broke more than 5m long, there was a risk of further spread.
Previously, from the morning of the same day, the authorities detected unusual signs and proactively warned and evacuated people in 4 downstream villages, with about 200 - 300 households, to avoid the danger zone.
Immediately after the incident, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Doan Thanh Son was also present to direct the repair.
On the same day, the working group of the two ministries of Agriculture and Environment and the Ministry of Industry and Trade also went to Lang Son to inspect and direct the troubleshooting.
This is a small hydroelectric dam, with a reservoir capacity of only about 3-4 million m3.
However, the large amount of water from the lake has been pouring down along with heavy rain for many days, causing the risk of flooding in neighboring communes such as That Khe, Trang Dinh... to increase.
Informing reporters, Mr. Hua Duy Tung - Vice Chairman of Trang Dinh commune - said that the local government is supporting many people in the commune to evacuate.
"Our commune is right downstream of the broken hydropower dam. We are evacuating people from the danger zone," said Mr. Tung.
Informing the press, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Environment Nguyen Hoang Hiep said that according to Lang Son's initial report, since this morning, the dam body has shown unusual signs, so people have proactively evacuated from the affected area. Thanks to that, initial human losses have not been recorded.
It is known that some machinery and equipment of the hydropower plant were damaged due to water overflowing into the construction area.
Bac Khe 1 Hydropower Plant is located on the Bac Khe River - a branch of the Ky Cung River, with a capacity of 2.4 MW.
Currently, the work of repairing and ensuring the safety of the dam is being urgently implemented by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment and the Lang Son provincial government.
