Some large irrigation and hydropower reservoirs across the country such as Dau Tieng, Son La, Hoa Binh and Tuyen Quang on Monday announced to discharge water to lower the water level and ensure the reservoir safety in the flooding season.

Dau Tieng Irrigation Exploitation Company will start to discharge water from 8 p.m. on Tuesday until August 10 with a rate of 70 cubic meters of water per second, and the total water volume discharged in the period will amount to 60.5 million cubic meters.

According to the firm, the water level in Dau Tieng Reservoir at 7 a.m. on Monday reached 20.29 meters, 0.44 meter higher than the safety level.

Meanwhile, heavy rains in the upstream Da River on Sunday night made the water flow to the Son La hydropower plant swell to 6,000 cubic meters per second. Therefore, the National Flood and Storm Prevention and Control Committee on Monday sent an urgent notification asking the plant to open one more discharge gate.

The Son La hydropower plant at 9 a.m. on Monday started to discharge water through five turbines and opened the gate No. 2. Previously, the plant informed localities in downstream areas about the water discharge, warning local people against fishing during this period.

The hydropower plants of Hoa Binh and Tuyen Quang have also opened the second discharge gates since Sunday night to lower the water levels.

According to the Central Hydro-meteorological Forecasting Center’s announcement issued on Monday, the water levels in the Lo River and the Thao River are staying high, and the water level of the downstream Red River in Hanoi City reached 6.82 meters at 7 a.m. on Monday and may reach 8.25 meters on Tuesday.

The water level in rivers of the Thai Binh river system is also rising fast, with 3.11 meters measured in Pha Lai.

Speaking to the Daily on Monday, Le Thi Xuan Lan from the southern weather forecast center said that the tide in the Saigon and Dong Nai rivers was rising and would reach a peak in the next three to four days.

According to Lan, the tide in the next few days will not be high and stay at only 1.15 meters compared to the peak of 1.54 meter which used to cause severe flooding for HCMC.

However, some low-lying areas along the Saigon River will be flooded under the impact of the water discharged from Dau Tieng Reservoir and heavy rains in the next few days, Lan said.

Le Thanh Liem from the HCMC flood prevention and control center told the Daily that riverside areas of the Saigon River would not be flooded as the July tide was normally low and the water discharge volume from Dau Tieng Reservoir was under control.

SGT