VietNamNet Bridge – While rain-triggered floods have not gone down completely, people in the central region have to face new floods, which are caused by the reservoirs of hydro-power plants.

 

 

Floods in central Vietnam partly caused by hydro-power plants

Prolonged rain recently submerged the central provinces. Immediately after that, the central south region has suffered from the historical flood, which has killed at least 17 people so far.

Forecasters said that heavy rain would continue in this region from now to the end of the week. The water levels in the local rivers will reach the alarm levels in the next several days.

At the same time, three reservoirs of the Ba Ha, Hinh river, Krong H’nang plants in Phu Yen province and Ba La hydro-power plant in Gia Lai province discharged water on November 2, which has submerged Tuy Hoa city and three districts in Phu Yen province. More than 4000 people were evacuated. Local residents said that this is the largest flood in decades. Local officials worry that if water discharged by he treservoirs is not controlled, Phu Yen will be widely flooded.

In Khanh Hoa province, eight out of ten reservoirs have opened, causing a flood of between 0.5 to 1.5m in many neighboring areas.

Last year, hundreds of thousands of people in Quang Ngai province were also inundated when nearly 150 million cubic meters from the reservoir of A Vuong hydro power plant was discharged.

In 2007, Trieu Phong district in Quang Tri province was submerged due to the Rao Quan reservoir being opened to discharge water.

Officials of hydro power plants all said that they must open their reservoirs to prevent them from breaking.

Duc Tam