More communes and villages in Thua Thien-Hue, Quang Nam, Quang Ngai and Binh Dinh, as well as Phu Yen and Khanh Hoa, were flooded as the region experienced average rainfall ranging from 150mm to 400mm on Thursday and Friday.

Hydropower discharges flood central provinces

Further, 14 hydro-power plants and eight irrigation lakes in the central and Central Highlands region started discharging water through the spillway from Thursday.

Six reservoirs of hydro-power plants in Thua Thien-Hue, Quang Nam and Phu Yen discharged a huge capacity of water, including Huong Dien in Huế (1,233cu.m. per second), Binh Dien (892), Song Tranh 2 (2,606) and Song Bung 4 (917) in Quang Nam Province, as well as Ba Ha (2,800) and Vinh Son C (2,096).

The floods isolated and disrupted traffic on 16 provincial roads in Thừa Thiên-Huế as main roads in the districts of Phong Dien, Quang Dien and Huong Tra were submerged, with water as high as 0.3m-2m.

Heavy flooding also occurred in the districts of Dai Loc, Dien Ban, and Duy Xuyen and Hoi An City in Quang Nam, while four districts – Nghia Hanh, Mo Duc, Duc Pho and Tu Nghia – in Quang Ngai Province were also submerged in 0.7-1.5m deep water.

More than 823 households in Tu Nghia District in Quang Ngai were isolated, while some inner roads of Quang Ngai City were also submerged in water as high as 0.5-0.8m.

Rescue forces in the central province helped 1,579 households move to safety.

The Centre of Flood and Storm Prevention in the Central and Central Highlands regions warned that provinces from Thua Thien-Hue to Phu Yen could get rainfall ranging from 200mm to 300mm until Saturday, while medium rainfall would occur in the coastal south central provinces from today through Sunday.

The water level also rose from 1.8m to 2.5m (over emergency grade 3) in ancient Hoi An City and in the suburban areas along the Hoai River yesterday morning.

In Da Nang City, the floods isolated 420 households in Hoa Lien Commune in suburban Hoa Vang District, while 105ha of recently-sowed rice was inundated with water.

Land erosion

Meanwhile, torrential rains caused serious land erosion at Ca Pass in Phu Yen Province, leading to hours-long traffic congestion early this morning.

According to Phu Yen’s Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Search and Rescue, thousand tonnes of soil and rock fell down from the pass, which connects Phu Yen and Khanh Hoa provinces, paralysing the north-south traffic flow on National Highway 1 from around 10pm last night. At times, vehicles were seen queuing up for dozens of kilometres.

Two cars were damaged, but no one was injured.

Colonel Nguyen Phi Long, head of Phu Yen’s Transport Police Department, said at 8am this morning, the rescue force temporarily cleared the soil and rock on two-thirds of the road where erosion had occurred. One-way traffic on National Highway 1 through this area was restored.

The provincial Department of Transport said heavy rainfall and floods also caused land depression in many areas of National Highway 1 passing through the province. The most serious incidents occurred at Km 1294 + 200 in Vuon Xoai Slope and in Xuan Dai Ward, Song Cau Town.

Cổ Mã Pass in neighbouring Khánh Hòa Province also reportedly suffered from land erosion.

Torrential rainfall is continuing in both Khanh Hoa and Phu Yen provinces. Hydropower plants in the two provinces said they would discharge water in large quantities at noon and this afternoon.

Households in 17 communes in Phu Yen Province have been flooded.

Water level of the rivers in Quang Nam, Binh Dinh, Quang Ngai, Phu Yen and Gia Lai is expected to rise through this weekend. 

VNS