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Mekong Delta: many dikes broken
By October, rains and floods submerged nearly 30,600 houses in the delta. Nearly 1,900 families had to move to safer locations.
In related news, water levels of reservoirs in central provinces from Thanh Hoa to Quang Nam are at 65-95 percent of designed capacity. Water levels in some reservoirs like Song Muc in Thanh Hoa, Ve Vung, Xuan Duong and Khe Da in Nghe An, Hoa My in Thua Thien Hue, Khe Tan and Thach Ban in Quang Nam have exceed their designed capacity. Flood in rivers in the central region is rising.
It is forecast that flooding in the Mekong River will maintain high until mid-October.
Mekong Delta farmers to get flood compensation
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has told provinces in the Mekong Delta to submit to the Government estimates on the damages caused by flooding so that financial support can be assessed.
The ministry would report the statistics to the Prime Minister for considering financial support to the Delta provinces, Bui Ba Bong, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, said.
The ministry has proposed support of VND5 million (US$230) per hectare of rice, which is equal to 30 per cent of the amount that farmers lose when one hectare of rice is destroyed by flooding.
This year, flooding caused by water rising in the Mekong River has reached a record high, collapsing several dykes and destroying thousands of hectares of autumn-winter rice crop in the Delta, especially in An Giang and Dong Thap provinces.
In An Giang, floods have destroyed more than 4,000 ha of rice and are threatening about 66,000 ha of rice. More than 17,670 houses have been flooded, according to the province's initial statistics.
Floods have also killed 11 people as of Wednesday, said the provincial Steering Committee for Flood and Storm Prevention and Control.
An Giang now has nearly 2,000 households who are in need of food support, mostly in An Phu and Cho Moi districts.
In Dong Thap Province, a 20-metre section of Khang Chien Canal's dyke in Thanh Binh District's Phu Loi Commune was broken on Wednesday, destroying 140 ha of 60-70 day-old rice as the water level difference between the inside and outside of the dyke was more than three metres.
Since the beginning of this year's flood season, floods have broken five dykes in Dong Thap, destroying more than 2,000 ha of rice with a total estimated damage of about VND450 billion (US$21 million), according to the provincial Agriculture and Rural Development.
Nearly 19,800 ha of rice in Dong Thap are also being threatened by floods because of weak dykes.
Dong Thap has relocated more than 1,453 of 10,392 flooded houses to safety.
N. Anh
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